Children of Time
by InnerFlame7
Summary: A dragon and a dragon priest are brought back to life after being dead for millennia. The land is on the brink of a civil war and Alduin is about to make his return. How will they affect the coming storm?
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

So a new story. This one taking place in our beloved Skyrim

I thought i would start out with a prologue to get things going but the first few chapters are already done, just need to check them for errors and such so one should be up withing a day or two.

Now English is not my first language and I don't have anyone to read through this stuff so you should be prepared to find some spelling errors and wacky sentences here'n there. Feel free to review and tell me what you think, fixing a problem is easier when I know it's there ^^

Anyway, without further ado.

Chapter one: prologue

* * *

Another boom echoed through the halls, the sound bouncing between the walls of the temple like ripples in water. A few soldiers scrambled towards the hall were the sound had come from, swords and shields in hand.

The place was in fine condition, polished stone walls, grand pillars inscribed with symbols and depictions of the temple's history. Massive tables for the many feasts that had been held. To his left was the corridor leading to the library, a room almost the size of the great hall, only filled with books. Centuries of knowledge that would no doubt, soon be lost, burned to little more than cinders if the visitors had their way.

It was probably one of the last dragon temples left in the world.

At least for a while, he thought as another resounding boom echoed through the temple, this time followed by the sound of snapping wood and crumbling stone.

A pair of heavy footsteps was approaching, a slight rattling sound of chain mail that stopped near the entrance of the grand hall. It was Nirah, Nirah Night. A female nord. His right hand if he had to give a title, skilled in defensive magic and a master of the sword. Slightly fanatic but loyal to the core.

He looked up from the runes he had been carving into one of the many solid stone slaps that made up the floor.

"My lord" she said, bowing deeply. "They have broken through the outer gates" Her voice was calm but serious, she had long since accepted whatever fate she was to receive. He studied her for a while, Night kept her eyes on the ground, awaiting his response.

Koraaviik knew it had only been a matter of time. They all did.

The war had been inevitable, the other dragon priests had ruled with an iron fist. Something that proved more dangerous than useful. He warned them that tat they were digging their own graves. But did they listen?

Those who were not subjugated were enslaved. People were sacrificed by the hundreds. But with time, fear turned to hatred. Any idiot would have seen it coming. But they never understood. Too blinded by the power they had been given, they could not see what was happening right in front of their eyes.

He was angry and frustrated but there was little he could do to rectify the situation.

Alduin's folly was merely the nail in the coffin. His pride and arrogance had doomed them all.

The thought made him feel more disappointed than anything - No, he realized. It wasn't his feelings. It was hers. And as if reading his thoughts, he felt a blow of hot air hitting his back. Ruffling his hair and making his robes flutter.

He smiled, though none could see it through the mask. He turned around, ignoring Night for the moment and instead turning his gaze to his bonded. She was standing proudly behind him, her great form taking up a good chunk of the hall. Black scales glittering in the light of the torches. Spikes adorned her head like a crown, great wings stretching out nearly long enough to touch the sides of the room. Long sinuous tail flowing behind her ending with a spiked tip, much like a spear.

He looked fondly at her, with golden eyes identical to hers.

Midwahgein was her name.

She looked down at him, long forked tongue lashed out as if tasting the air.

She made a low satisfied rumbling sound "Our bond is growing stronger" She said her voice soft and yet still more powerful than any other Koraaviik had ever heard.

His research into soul magic had led him to the ritual. Though there had been precious little information on it. It was supposed to have made them able to share their magic, however the bond proved to go much deeper than that. Their ability to read, communicate and share their thoughts without saying a word, as well as his now golden eyes was testament to that.

Another boom echoed through the temple, pulling him from his thoughts.

Time was running out.

He turned back to Night, she hadn't moved a muscle. Still standing in her heavy plate armour, slightly glowing two handed sword on her back. The number of runes and enchantments on her gear combined with her mastery of the blade would make her a more than worthy foe, even for a group of well-trained warriors.

Koraaviik walked towards her with slow measured steps rope flowing behind him. His own armour, the customary one worn by dragon priest had seen a few modifications as well. Nothing that would see them through the night though. He held no illusions about the strength of the enemy, for every man they killed two more would take their place. He put a hand on Night's shoulder begging her to look him in the eye. Night hesitated for barely a second before raising his gaze. Blue eyes meeting gold. "Thank you, for everything" Night merely smiled before replying "It has been a pleasure to serve you my lord".

She bowed again, he nodded, dismissing before she began to walk back towards the gates were the remaining guards were fighting to hold the temple.

As Night pulled her sword from its sheath and made her way up the stairs Koraaviik found himself whispering, too low for anyone but his bonded to hear. "I'll see you on the other side"

As Koraaviik was once alone with Midwahgein he lifted his hands to his face, unstrapped the mask and took it off. Placing it on one of the long stone tables. He turned around and made his way towards his bonded. Midwahgein lowered her head down slightly and pushed it into his chest. He hugged her, as well as one could hug a giant dragon whose head was bigger than his body. After a while he whispered, as much to himself as her "Let's hope the enchantments work"

She huffed and gave him some reassuring thoughts while almost humming "Of cause they will, you made them yourself did you not?"

He smiled. Whispering in a small voice "I did"

The enchantments were powerful, fuelled by the blood of those they were to protect and preserve. The idea was that their souls would we be bound to their bodies in the temple as long as the enchantments were active. Runes were used, to better maintain and power the enchantments. But most of them as far as he had discovered in his research, hadn't been used in decades and never in this context. Many of them were invented for this very purpose. In all honesty, there were too many unknowns to say if it would actually work. But it was all they had.

It had taken months of research and countless days and sleepless nights to carve the runes and fuel the enchantments. Creating the whole thing would've been quicker had they had help but he wouldn't, no couldn't trust anyone with it. Many would've helped, but it had to remain a secret, else they risked the enemy getting knowledge of it. Something that would put the whole plan at risk.

He heard the sound of wood shattering followed by the clash of steel. They had broken through.

He caressed the scales beneath one of her closed eyes one last time, while she breathed deep before breaking away.

He put the mask on again, while preparing a few spells and checking one last time for the potions in his belt and sword at his hip. In his mind he felt Midwahgein rising to her full size, preparing a few spells and shouts of her own.

The battle was getting nearer, screams getting louder. He took a deep breath.

He heard her soothing voice as much with his ears as he did with his mind "fear not, little one. For death is only the beginning"


	2. Chapter 2: A remarkable discovery

Spoiler alert: I still don't own Skyrim.

You should still expect wacky sentences and plenty of spelling errors. Enjoy.

Now I'm my biggest fear writing this chapter was to I wouldn't really catch the essence of the characters and in the attempt to do so I fear I may have overdone it a bit. ^^'

Not really sure but whatever be the case I hope you all like the chapter.

Chapter 2: A remarkable discovery

* * *

Onmund looked to his left just in time to see Tolfdir launch the last bandit of the mountain with a telekinesis spell. The old man visibly flinched when he heard a crack and the screams stopped.

He found himself feeling sorry for Tolfdir. He had a good heart and took no pleasure in taking life, the fact that it was self-defense helped in his book but he could still see how uncomfortable he was with the situation.

"Everyone alright?" he half shouted. They were a group of five, from the college of Winterhold.

Tolfdir was the official leader of the expedition, a kind old man who was the Master of alteration magic at the college. Jana, a female imperial with sharp features and long red hair. experienced mage and about as enthusiastic about old ruins and forgotten history as Tolfdir. Then they had Carl, a young male breton with short brown hair and blue eyes who was quite passionate about restoration magic. And the last beside himself was Belrand. A stocky built imperial battle mage with specialty in enchantments, the one they brought for protection as ruins like the one they were looking for were rarely uninhabited. Not to mention the danger one could face at the hands of common outlaws like the ones they had just dealt with.

And then there was Onmund, a male nord. He had discovered his talent at magic at a young age, and with it came fascination and a desire to learn. His family however hadn't shared his interests. He liked to think they were more of a...traditional sort, for lack of a better word. He loved them, but they were convinced that he should spend his life as a hunter or a farmer like them, it took him years to convince them that this was what he was meant to do. And even then, after years of discussions and insisting they had still thought it was a death sentence for him to go to the college. He loved them, he really did. But sometimes it felt like a blessing to get away from home and into the world.

They had made their way up the mountain on a barely existing trail, the howling winds and thick snow fighting them every step of the way.

"Hey!" Jana half screamed over the winds. "I think I found something!"

He took another deep breath and started climbing towards her. Many moons back they had searched an ancient nord tomb and found some half burned, half decayed books that, with a few complex restoration spells were somewhat readable. Most of them had been irrelevant, at least for Onmund. History was never really his thing, however Jana and Tolfdir were all over them. They took mountains of notes and wrote off a bunch things for later use, in case they lost the books on the way back. One particular book had proven much more interesting though. It spoke of a dragon temple, one that wasn't mentioned in any of the maps they had looked through at the college. Either it didn't exist, or it was so well hidden that no one had found it before.

They were all hoping for the later.

As he climbed the last rock, he saw Jana and Belrand looking at a stone wall. He pulled his cloak a bit tighter while he pushed himself through the heavy snow. Onmund had to admit, the wall was a little too alike some they had seen in other ruins. There were carvings in it, but they were too old and windblown for him to make out any details.

Tolfdir, having reached the plateau was looking at it with nothing short of wonder.

"It must have been there for -centuries at least, for the weather to have worn it down so much!" He exclaimed excitedly, while trying to catch his breath from the climb.

Carl, looking slightly disappointed with their discovery asked "Only a wall? I thought the text said there would be a temple?"

Tolfdir looked at him, using the same voice he would on a particular impatient student "There may very well be" He looked thoughtful for a moment as he considered the wall. "There must be an entrance somewhere in the area"

Jana caught him to it "Look here, behind this rock" She said pointing to the right of the wall.

The wind was howling, so cold it felt like it was biting into his skin. Onmund pushed his head against the wall in order to look behind the rock. "A door" He couldn't help getting a bit excited as well. They may very well have found something that had been untouched for thousands of years. He wasn't much for digging around in graves, his ancestors should be allowed to rest in peace. However it was a unique opportunity, to search the temples of the ancient nords, to learn of their magic and the fate that lead to their downfall.

This time Belrand spoke. "The mountain must have collapsed on the entrance"

Tolfdir nodded a few times, before seemingly getting an idea. "Stand back everyone" he held his hands out. A soft glow barely visible because of the heavy snow storm appeared around the rocks.

Slowly, one by one he moved the stones to the side. Revealing a door of solid metal covered with rust and dirt. He looked back at Belrand who nodded moving towards the door.

As he tried to push it open it became apparent that it had not been used in a long time. The rust was bad, the hinges so old the door didn't even budge. He ended up whispering some unknown spell that caused the door to break open with a bang that caused one of the sides to break off its hinges and loudly tumble down the stairs. The old air and dust flew out nearly choked him before he moved to the side. He looked back making sure everyone was near. He wasn't the type a guy that smiled a lot. Onmund had in fact found him to be quite grim all the time. "Light some torches" he ordered in a gruff voice. They all did as told and one by one entered the who knows how old corridor.

The air was old and stale, the floor was covered with dust and dirt. They slowly and carefully wandered through the corridor but as they passed several minor rooms his mind kept jumping to some of the deadly traps they had found in the previous ruins. And, judging by the slow cautious movement of the group and the way they looked at everything like it might blow up, they had the same thoughts. The first real thing of interest they found was a large somewhat empty hall. It was filled with piles of dust and broken pieces of decayed wood. They split up to search for anything that might be of interest.

Tolfdir had cast half a dozen candlelight spells that now illuminated the hall, and before long they had found and collected a small pile of burned books, none of them intact enough to read.

"It must have been a library" Jana's voice echoed across the empty room from where she talked to Tolfdir. He nodded in silent agreement "Imagine the knowledge that must have been here..." he said voice trailing off as he looked around the hall. Onmund rummaged through a few piles of things. The place was a mess.

Onmund couldn't say he was impressed. It was a miracle that they had found it, but the place itself wasn't really worth writing home about. He put the torch into a pile of rubble where it stood somewhat stable and proceeded to push aside a wooden beam, revealing what looked to be another door. He threw the wooden beam to the ground, which had the unfortunate effect of throwing ash up everywhere that caused him to cough a few times as he waved a hand through the air in an attempt to clear it.

He picked up the torch from the pile of ashes and looked closer at the door. Same material as the last one, solid iron. There was however one difference. This one had a massive dent in it, a dent from the other side.

He pushed slightly with his free hand and, to his surprise the door swung right open. Old hinges screaming all the way. This was also what seemed to get the others attention as they all suddenly stood beside him staring into the next room.

He took a few steps in mouth open, the air was heavy. Not so much from the old air like in the last few rooms but magic. Onmund could practically feel the magic simmering in the air. And he wasn't the only one, Judging by the looks on their faces. Belrand made his way into the middle of the hall.

"This must be the main chamber" He heard Tolfdir whisper behind him. He was about to ask him to summon the candlelight again, but they were already moving from the library into the main chamber.

Onmund looked on in quiet fascination as the room was slowly lit up by the spell. The main chamber was massive, it reminded him of dragonsreach in Whiterun only bigger and underground. There were by the looks of it 8 pillars who were holding up the curved ceiling. Only 5 was still standing. The others seemed to have collapsed. There were cracks and dents in the walls, small craters in the ground. Tables were broken. Bones and pieces of rusted metal littered the ground. It looked like a battlefield. One where both sides were flinging destructive spells at each other.

One of the candles reached the end of the left part of the chamber and as it did Onmund found himself nearly choking. There was a dragon, the skeleton of one. Small pieces of hide and scale was still clinging to its body. It was lying on its side, mouth wide agape.

Tolfdir and Jana pushed past him towards the bones, this...well, he wasn't really sure what to think. Tolfdir crouched down near one of the wings looking at the bones.

"Well now... would you look at that. I never imagined we'd find something like this. What would a dragon be doing in here?" A good question Onmund thought as he cast his gaze one more time across the room, there were so many bones in here. It could've been a graveyard.

There was a sword stuck in the left wing, or the remnants of one. Now rusted away like everything else. He walked around it, he had never seen the bones of a dragon before, hadn't really considered their existence either. He thought he remembered having read about them in a book but never had he thought they would be so big. Even without all the flesh and muscle the thing was intimidating. He ended his silent inspection at the head, teeth that were still sharp, mouth stretching wide enough to swallow a man whole, empty eye sockets staring blankly across the room. He followed the way the head was pointing, just out of curiosity and nearly had a heart attack as he saw a humanoid figure. Tolfdir and Jana looked up from their inspection of the bones questioningly and all he could do was to point while he tried to get his breathing under control.

This time Jana was the first one to speak "A... a dragon priest?" she sounded as surprised as he was. It was standing half hidden behind a pillar, which would explain why they hadn't seen it when they entered. It wasn't standing he realized it was impaled, a spear was jammed through its chest and into the wall behind it. "This trip is proving more and more interesting" Tolfdir said, looking at the priest. Carl suddenly spoke up "W-what's a dragon priest?" Onmund couldn't tell if he was stuttering because of fear or excitement, probably both.

Tolfdir held a hand to his beard, rubbing his jaw in thought, thinking about how best to explain it. After a while Onmund started wondering whether or not he was actually going to answer when he suddenly said "According to the few books I have read" he began Making it clear that he was not sure if it was true or false "Back in the Merethic Era, Dragons ruled much of Tamriel and Atmora. During this time, there were men who worshipped the dragons like gods" He looked at the dragon priest. He was little more than a decayed body, dried out. The amour was bronze in color, shaped like big scales that covered most of the chest area and flowed down the arms. Underneath the armour was a robe, the colour had long since left it and it was so full of holes it was barely hanging on to the body. The head was covered by a black mask shaped like the head of a dragon.

He looked at Jana, while asking silently "Can you imagine what it was like, living here so long ago? The first men in Tamriel, here..."

She just shook her head.

"This is simply fascinating." Tolfdir said in clear fascination. "Never had I thought we would find something like this" Onmund found himself agreeing with the old man, he had expected a few artifacts maybe a draugr or two but nothing like this. Looking around he suddenly realized something. "Where's Belrand?"

Both Tolfdir and Jana tore their gazes away from the priest and looked around confused.

"I could've sworn he was here a moment ago" Tolfdir said genuinely confused. Onmund had found the man was easy to read, but then again. What need did he have to hide his thoughts and feelings?

"I'm over here" Belrand called, waving a hand around behind the dragon bones.

Tolfdir and Jana rushed over, Onmund cast a last glance at the impaled priest, wondering it must have been like back then, he would have to talk to Tolfdir after this he reminded himself, how could he not have known about dragons ruling tamriel? He would've thought such a major thing would've been all over the place and yet, had he never even seen it mentioned. He shook his head, it was thousands of years ago. There were other things that were more important than the life of some long dead priest right now. He followed the others.

They found Belrand crouching near what looked like a perfectly polished square cube of obsidian the size of a fully-grown horse. The strange thing, and what Onmund presumed had caught Belrand's attention was the numerous glowing symbols carved into the rock. Said rock also seemed to be the center of the magic they had felt when entering, whatever it was, it was powerful.

Belrand sat, hovering his hand near the symbols with his eyes closed. He said almost too silent for them to hear "These markings are unlike anything I've ever seen before"

Jana was about to say something when Belrand continued, almost sounding he was in a trance "I thought they were daedric first. But they don't match, dwemer, Ayleid, Falmer...they're all wrong"

His hand approached the stone "It's almost as if…" His voice was weird, almost like there was a strange undertone to it.

Tolfdir moved to settle a cautious hand on his shoulder, a nervous expression on his face. Clearly sensing that something was wrong. But before he touched him, Belrands hand drew back and then smashed into the rock. The sound of a stone cracking was followed by a bright flash and a blast of force that threw him backwards into a nearby wall.

His vision went dark.


	3. Chapter 3: The wonders of magic

First if all I would like to thank everyone who left a review or favorited or followed (or both :p) It really is wonderful to know that people appreciates the story, even if it's just getting started.

Secondly is the fact that this chapter is a bit short, a mere 4 pages. Felt like i should wrap this part of the story up before going onto the next. ^ ^

Answer to the riddle is forgiveness.

I present to you.

Chapter 3: The wonders of magic

* * *

Moments earlier:

Onmund pushed himself up from the ground with a groan, coughing and dusting himself off. He looked around before remembering what was going on. He couldn't see Tolfdir but Jana was standing by a pillar looking herself over for injuries, Belrand was lying a few meters away seemingly knocked out cold. His senses sharpened, he found himself thinking back to all the training sessions they had gone through when it came to unknown magic. He could almost hear Tolfdir's voice echo in his head.

_What kind of magic is it? Identifying what it is will help you understand it's properties, it will not give you a deep understanding but it will help guide you in the right direction._

He had no idea what it was, it looked like some form of enchantment but all the symbols put him off, it may just be some advanced type of enhancements that he had yet to learn about, maybe runes? There was also the other possibility. Some forgotten type of magic that was no longer practiced, the place sure looked old enough for it he though. Whatever it was It had something to do with the rock they were placed on, that much was sure.

_Does it seem dangerous? Knowing what precautions you need to take will not only help you stay alive but also to understand the purpose and nature of the magic._

It didn't seem to do anything before Belrand smashed it...perhaps it was some form of defensive response? That didn't explain much about its purpose though, what would it be defending? Why was it there? He had too little to go on. He felt a nagging feeling of frustration. The place was desolate and looked like it had been so for centuries at least. There may very well be clues left around but they had rushed ahead without taking the necessary precautions.

He saw an orange light at the corner of his eye and turned his gaze to the first thing he could think of, the stone.

The rock was still somewhat in one piece, there were a few cracks and some of the symbols had stopped glowing as they were no longer intact. But that was not it. He found his gaze drawn to the dragon bones and the orange and blue flames that were starting to engulf it. It was like someone had drenched the bones in oil and set them on fire. It started from the chest area, but moved the rest of the bones within seconds. The flames were bright, casting shadows across the hall and drowning out the candlelight's that were still floating around near the ceiling. Blue, gold and a deep orange. The air was simmering from the heat.

He watched in a mix of bafflement and sick fascination as the flames seemingly burned flesh, muscle and scales back into existence. It was like a wave, with every stroke of the flames more flesh formed around the centuries old bones.

Never, not even in his wildest dreams had he thought he would witness something like this, it was like the magic of old legends and folktales only amplified and actually true. Was it some complicated form of necromancy? Perhaps some reanimation spell that would rebuild the body into what it once wa- shit. He got a sudden feeling of dread he felt a few beads of sweat on his brow, not sure if it was from the heat or the mental conclusion he had reached.

The dragon was nearly rebuilt for lack of a better word. At Least he thought so, black scales was now covering most of the body only a few places still showing burning flesh and bone.

Onmund looked around suddenly realizing he should do something, just in case his thoughts were proved to be correct. Jana and Tolfdir were still standing securely behind a pillar, heads poking out to observe the spectacle that was taking place in front of them. His thoughts turned to Belrand who was still unconscious, but more importantly lying the middle of the room, right in the open, not far away from what was starting to look like a very much real dragon. Onmund considered sneaking his way over but decided he didn't have time, he started running, avoiding whatever pieces of rocks and rusted metal that was in his way. He crouched down besides Belrand, moving a finger to feel for a pulse. He was still alive, but he had a nasty burn all the way up his right arm. Any tension that may have been washed away uppond feeling a heartbeat, returned tenfold however when he heard another sound. A heavy breathing, the dragon was live. He froze at the thought, his brain not quite having caught up with the event, the dragon was alive. He had half expected it when he saw it somehow getting burned into existence but still, how?

An eye opened, a large reptilian eye the color of molten gold glowing faintly in the dim lit room. The dragon lifted it's head, slowly, eyes darting around as if looking for something. As it found what he presumed was the dragon priest it stopped and then seemingly dragged it's body forward. It was a slow, ungraceful movement. He could hear as well as see the wings and tail as they were all but dragged along the stone floor. He wasn't sure what to think, was it supposed to move like that? He didn't think so, but then again, what did he know about dragons? It might have been because of the resurrection he thought. Humans were often exhausted after being wounded or suffering from magical exhaustion but none of those really seemed comparable to having your body burned back into existence after having been dead for thousands of years. His train of thought fell apart when he heard the dragon...whimpering?

It was a slow, high pitched sound that, well. It wasn't something he had ever expected to hear coming from a dragon, not that he had ever expected to meet one. More importantly he though, why was it whimpering at the dragon priest?

Did they know each other? Were dragons even intelligent?

He put the thought aside for a moment, reminding himself that he still had to get Belrand into cover, preferably behind one of the massive stone pillars . He grabbed Belrand around his shoulders and started to pull him back, he was a heavy man, and it ended up more awkward than he thought. Halfway there he nearly stumbled on a rock, dropping Belrand who landed on the floor knocking over a piece of rusty metal, that made a loud clang as it bounced against the rocks.

Onmund stopped dead in his tracks. Fuck.

The dragon instantly stopped whimpering and instead swung it's great head around and stared directly at him.

He felt frozen in place, Should he run? Would that make it attack him? He thought he had heard something like that before, that the best thing one could do when faced with a sabre cat was to stand still and hold your ground. He decided he would stand still and hope it hadn't seen him. It was a silly thought he knew, but he didn't know what to do. The dragon growled, a deep rumbling sound, that seemed to drown out all other sounds in the room. The dragon started walking towards him, this time the steps looked calculated, they held meaning. He stopped breathing. He looked it right in the eyes, fiery golden pierced right through him. Fear seemed to be the only thing he was capable of feeling, it was like the rest of the room disappeared around him and he was left standing frozen and alone, with nothing but the massive dragon in front of him. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was starting to understand why people had worshiped the dragons. It was standing at least 20 feet tall and probably three times as long, thick black scales and massive wings that blocked out the room behind it. It's head was bigger than his body. He felt pathetic standing there in front of it. Pathetic and worthless. He saw the mouth moving, but he didn't hear anything, too caught up with staring at the razor sharp teeth and foot long claws.

"What. Did. You. DO?!"

It could talk, the dragon could talk. The voice was beautiful and yet powerful, smashing him back into focus. It wanted to know what he did. Was it angry that it was alive again? How was he supposed to know what he did when he himself didn't know? Technically it wasn't even Onmund who did it, he thought, it was Belrand, but somehow he didn't think the dragon would take any of those things for an answer.

He could do nothing more than point a shaky hand in the direction of the stone that seemed to have started it all.

It narrowed its eyes at him, he feared he had done something wrong but it soon turned it's head to look at the stone. As it looked away it was like someone lifted a spell from him. He took a breath and felt himself relaxing, if only a bit. He felt sweaty, his nails was dug so far into his palms in was a wonder he wasn't bleeding. He quickly ducked and pulled Belrand the last of the way behind the pillar out of reflex as the dragon suddenly spun around and swung it's tail through the air. There was another explosion, bright light flooded the room and he was forced to cover his eyes.

It smashed the rock. He thought, as his eyes once again got used to the dim light of the main chamber. This time the destruction of the rock brought with it more fire. Only it was the dragon priest that started burning. It was a swift thing, like a flash of flames, bright blue, deep orange and golden. Still he couldn't keep himself from gasping, the magic was impressive, far beyond his level and much more powerful than anything he had ever seen.

The spear that had impaled the priest to the wall fell out, the tip had melted and what remained of the shaft was burning on the dusty stone floor. The priest was standing unsteadily, seemingly struggling to even stay upright. The dragon suddenly came bolting across the room and caught the priest with its head before he hit the ground. It's eyes were wide, staring at the priest that was now lying on its head.

That must have been it, Onmund thought. It wanted to revive the priest as well.

He looked at the stone, half expecting it to still be standing. His gaze found nothing but dust however, the stone was gone. That meant there wouldn't be any more people getting revived...right? He looked on as the priest went limp, the dragon stood still for a moment a single eye returning to stare at him. However before he knew what was going on the dragon had grabbed the priest with one of it's claws, lifted off from the floor and launched itself through a hatch in the roof he didn't even know were there.

He stood there, not really sure what to think. He shook his head and turned around finding Jana, Carl and Tolfdir staring open mouthed at the now open roof.

Tolfdir's shaken voice was the first to break the silence that had fallen on the room.

"I...I- " he shook his head and visibly gulped before continuing "We must inform the arch mage of this...he'll know what to do"

* * *

Thanks for reading. Pretty please, leave me a review:)

Hope you liked it despite how short it was. Normally I'm not much for repeating chapters like that but i do feel that viewing this one form a different perspective was necessary for a whole bunch of reasons, most of all because this is the very first 'meeting' Midwahgein has with humans from this time. First impressions are important after all.

This riddle is a real classic 'The more you take the more you leave behind. '


	4. Chapter 4: A new land

Dovahzul, the dragon language. However lovely it might be I'm not very proficient with it. And while I could probably do a decent job with a translator there simply wouldn't be a reason to make longer sentences. Mostly because very few if any of you (myself included) won't understand what's written anyway. For those reasons I'll keep it to a minimal, there may be a word here'n there but nothing beyond that.

Answer to the riddle is footsteps :P

Anyway, on with the story!

* * *

He woke up to a feeling of pain, not the kind you feel when you stub your toe. But the kind that makes you feel like you lost an argument with a cave bear. It was all over at first, but after a short while he managed to pin it down to the majority of the left part of his body. He considered for a moment if something might be broken, an arm or a leg, maybe a few ribs. His eyes were closed and no matter how much he felt like he should he couldn't quite get himself to open them, he felt tired. After a while he tried moving his arms but was rewarded with a sharp stab of pain that made him grit his teeth. He instead decided to listen, he heard the sound of something breathing heavily near him and if he listened closely enough, he could hear birds chirping and the wind rustling the trees. He was outside he realized. The revelation was more confusing than it was helpful. How did he get outside and why did the breathing sound so familiar? The last thing he remembered was…

He threw himself to his feet, immediately regretting it as his vision darkened and he crumbled from the pain, painfully hitting the ground again this time in a sitting position. His fists clenched tight enough to draw blood. He opened his eyes, his vision was blurry and it took a few seconds before he could make the details on the scaly head in front of him. He slowly turned his head, first left then right. He saw nothing but a wall of scales even the sky above him was blocked by a one of her massive wings. Midwahgein was curled around him. He turned to look at her head again, she was staring at him, eyes filled with relief but also worry. He felt her poking his mind in order to figure out the extent of the damage, he gladly let her in. No words were needed.

He learned himself forward a bit, bombing his head into hers in a familiar gesture while leaning a bit on her to stop himself from falling over. He breathed in a few times, trying to get his body to stop shaking, though the pain made it difficult to focus. She leaned into the touch, albeit carefully for fear of worsening his injuries.

After a few seconds he broke away and looked himself over, he was still wearing his armour and his mask, the latter of which he pulled off and put beside him on the ground. His robe was slightly ripped around his left hip and thigh. He slowly moved a hand down to push the cloth away and was greeted by bruises, coloured everything between black, blue and purple with a little blood here and there. Seeing it was like it made him all the more aware of the pounding pain he was feeling, he hissed out a few curses through gritted teeth. He tried to give her a reassuring smile but it turned more into a painful grimace. It looked bad, he thought. A potion would've been preferable, but he had none on him and highly doubted he would have been able to make one because of the pain, even if he had everything he needed. No, a simple healing spell would have to do, he didn't trust himself with anything more advanced than that right now. His hand was shaking but nonetheless he managed it, the warm glow was followed by his skin being somewhat patched up, it was still a bright red, but at least the pain was diminished enough for him to move, without feeling like he was falling apart.

Midwahgein looked from his wounded side to him again, before regretfully admitting "I would have healed it myself, but the resurrection left me weakened."

He waved her off with a half smile "It's alright, I'm fine".

He pushed himself up, legs slightly shaking from the sudden weight that was put on them. Midwahgein hesitantly moved her head back as well as her wing, revealing that they were indeed outside, cold gray rocks, thick and sturdy looking pine trees and a massive cliff face beside them that seemed to stretch all the way to the skies. It looked like they were on some sort of outcropping on a mountain.

Koraaviik stood there for a while, trying and failing horribly at identifying where they were.

His memory was a bit cloudy but he remembered the battle, their last stand in the temple.

He remembered dying.

It was at that moment it finally caught up to him, his spell had worked. He wasn't sure why he felt so surprised, part of him was never in doubt about the power and function of it but it all just seemed so unlikely at the time. Bringing someone back from the dead, flesh bone and soul included? He had never heard of anything like that before. And yet, here he was alive and breathing, he had done it.

"Indeed you have, you should have some more faith in yourself" Midwahgeins voice rang through the clearing, somehow managing to praise him and criticize him at the same time. He smiled, some things never changed.

As his eyes traveled the area he saw a crater, a few feet deep and ten times as long. Earth, rocks and roots had been pushed up and thrown around. He blinked a few times, taking in the scene.

He turned to look at her "You crash landed, you alright?"

She huffed, as if the very idea of it being an insult. "You need not worry about me"

He looked the scene over another time, there was no blood, a few scales but a crash without knocking loose af few scales would be an act of Akatosh himself. Midwahgein was probably right as always. Besides he reassured himself, if she was in great pain he would've felt it through the bond. Thoughts and feelings were easily kept to themselves, but if one were careless or if said feelings were they powerful enough it would start bleeding through, something he had learned the hard way during some heated discussions concerning humans and other such sensitive topics.

His gaze returned to the setting sun. "How long was I out?"

Midwahgein looked thoughtful for a moment before answering. "I am unsure, I suspect I slept for a few days after we crashed and maybe a few more with you."

So anything between 3 days and a week, no wonder he felt like shit.

He shook his head before he walked away from the crater, fully aware of the eyes that followed him. He turned his attention to the surrounding area. They were high up, forests were everywhere around the mountain, hills and rivers were visible on the ground below. The sky was coloured orange and pink with the sun setting on the horizon. Nature seemingly stretching on forever, mountains each one a marvel to behold, though one in particular caught his attention. One that was taller than all the others, piercing the heavens and continuing upwards. Clouds passing it like water around a rock, it was a magnificent sight. "Monahven" he whispered, the name flowing from his lips before he really had time to think about it. It meant mother wind in dovahzul, the throat of the world.

"You remembered the name" Midwahgein commented. He turned his head halfway towards her before answering "I did" That was one thing he remembered clearly. He had gone there often, to enjoy the silence. The place was so secluded, so isolated from the rest of the world, that it might as well have been its own little plane of oblivion. For him it had proven to be a good place to relax, though it felt like a lifetime since he had last been there. But, however tempting a trip to the top would've been there were far more important things that needed to be done, like figuring out where they were and what year it was.

Midwahgein probably sensing the question coming replied "I don't know where we are, but judging from the surroundings i'd say the southern part of Skyrim"

Koraaviik gave her an incredulous look. She only huffed before continuing "I didn't exactly take my time to look around. There were humans, mages by the looks of it. The fools seemed to have resurrected us by accident." not that i mind- was left unspoken. There was a short pause before Midwahgein continued "Although, I fear we may have been gone for a long time, much longer than we anticipated"

Koraaviik turned to fully face her were her massive form was resting a few feet away "What do you mean?"

"The humans were exploring the temple like one would an ancient ruin. Either they were ignorant of its history or we have been gone for a long, long time"

He stood there not really sure what to think, chances were the Nords had destroyed all knowledge that existed on them and sealed the temple after the war. Midwahgein was right, who knew how long they had been gone. They didn't know who ruled the land, they didn't know who was still alive, if any at all. Thinking about it they didn't know a whole lot, they didn't even know where they were. His mind immediately started to kick in, thoughts and priorities forming with a practiced ease "We need knowledge of the time and state of the land a map wouldn't hurt either" He said. And as the light was dimming he spotted a group of flickering lights in the distance.

"There is a village near the foot of the mountain, it might prove to have what we need." he suggested. Midwahgein was silent, though judging from her facial expression she didn't seem too sold on the idea. Just as he feared she wasn't going to answer Midwahgein breathed out heavily before answering "You are right, but I will not be able to follow"

He slowly nodded, it was the only real choice, they had no time to waste. For all they knew, a hunting party could've spotted her and could be preparing for an all out hunt. The time was convenient however, the sun was nearly setting, it would be dark outside by the time he reached the village.

* * *

The sun had set behind the mountains and was replaced by a crescent moon that shone with a dim silvery light.

He hadn't realized how tired he really was until he started the climb, the cold and damp air kept him awake and focused though, something that he was grateful for.

The trip down the mountain wasn't exactly an easy one. There was no real trail, only steep steps and rocks with a few roots and flowers here and there. His amour wasn't exactly made for climbing either but it only took him what he thought was about half an hour to reach the bottom.

From there the city was pretty easy to spot, wooden buildings scattered among the trees, smoke coming from the chimneys and light from torches shimmering in the night.

He had avoided the main road, it was too risky. As he approached the first of many problems arose, the gate, if one could call it that, was well lid and there were armed guards on the lookout. He would have to find another way in. The right side was blocked by a mountain so he decided he would try the left.

He looked around to make sure no one was near, he saw only trees, bushes and darkness, good enough. He got up from his crouching position in the bushes and quickly crossed the street, nearly stumbling as his robe got caught on a broken branch. He silently cursed, long robes and ceremonial armor, however useful it might be, was not ideal for a trip through the forest. The mask he could live with, it did little in the way of hindering his vision or breathing and it was dark, making it easier for him to hide among the foliage, at least he hoped so.

He continued through the forests until he reached a rocky hill, that overlooked the outskirts of the city. He started his second climb and shortly after he took a few careful steps so that he was hidden behind a tree on the top. He let his gaze glide over the city and couldn't help but feel a bit lost. He didn't recognize it at all. Nothing seemed even remotely familiar, the walls, the wooden houses, the architecture...just how long had they been gone? Koraaviik moved back into cover behind the tree, feeling a tang of panic. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he was here to answer those questions, plain and simple. Midwahgein had made it quite clear that if anything seemed off, anything at all. He was to return immediately. And while he would prefer nothing more than to stay in her warm embrace he knew it wouldn't get them anywhere, it simply wasn't an option.

He opened his eyes and this time took another determined look at the village. There were a dozen buildings or so, one of them a smithy, the burning forge was easy to identify. Then there were a bunch of houses with signs dangling near the entrance, shops maybe? A graveyard, a sawmill and lastly there were the grand house in the middle, presumably housing some authoritative figure. He briefly considered just walking in and demanding the information. But that idea was dismissed just as quickly as it came. They had lost the war, and while he wouldn't consider himself a part of the crimes committed by the dragon cult, he couldn't count on them feeling the same. No, he would have to find a shop of some kind, presuming there was one. Break in, and get whatever he could find that would help him and Midwahgein.

It barely sounded like a plan when he thought about it, but it was all he had. Worst case scenario was him having to fight his way out, even then he was pretty confident in his ability to do so, even in his exhausted state. He identified 4 guards, 2 at each gate, besides that the streets were empty with only a few torches providing light.

How convenient.

Koraaviik carefully made his way down the hill, approaching one of the larger houses in the village, one he quickly labeled a tavern, from the bustling noises he could hear through the open windows, city wasn't empty then he thought, only drunk. Hopefully it would stay like that. He made his way right, towards the road that went straight through the city. There, he thought, on the other side of the street was a sign with a weight on it, a common symbol for a merchant. The sight brought a little hope with it, now he just had to find a way in. He made his way across the road, carefully watching his surroundings for any unpleasant surprises, there were none. As he arrived at the merchants house he crouched and observed the lock, it seemed fairly simple.

He took another look around, feeling slightly paranoid, before trying his luck with opening it with a telekinesis spell. A basic understanding of locks seemed to be enough as he heard the door unlock. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and pushed himself inside the dark house before silently closing the door behind him.

* * *

The inside was pitch black, even the fireplace was cold and dark. Good he thought, that meant the owners were either in bed or not at home. He summoned a small blue flame in his hand to get some vision, the room was pretty much what he had expected, a large desk to his right, behind which he could see to large shelves. To his left was an open area followed by a staircase leading upstairs. Beneath the staircase he found another shelf as well as a chest, all of the furniture was made of the same cold brown wood. Not hearing any sounds he quickly decided to check behind the desk. There were a number of books along with what he deemed to be a jewelry box. Neither of them were a map however. He quickly checked the large shelves behind him but found only dishes, cubs and a few tools that he had no use for. Koraaviik felt himself getting more and more agitated, what kind of merchant wouldn't have a bloody map lying around?! He took a deep breath, trying to settle his nerves, his exhaustion and the pain in his side was getting to him he knew. But nevertheless he couldn't shake off the feeling that this whole...thing, was wrong.

He didn't know what year it was or were he was, he broke into some unknown persons house in some unknown city filled with people he didn't know. He had seen no banners that he recognized, the white stag on a blue background was not one he remembered. He remembered many, The grey mountain on white of house bale, the black wolf of house Caine, the roses of house Vreek...then there was the Greyhill's, the mason's and the Whitetree's from which Nirah had originated. Learning them all at heart had been part of his training, knowledge of the land and who lived on it was rightfully considered important for one of his position. The memories was of little use right now though, but he found that it soothed his mind a bit to think of something he knew, a small sense of familiarity in a place where there was otherwise none to be found. He once again looked around, taking in his surroundings one more time before carefully making his way to the large chest beneath the staircase.

The lock was not like the one on the door, he kept getting close to opening but was never quite there, everytime he felt like he got it caused him to lose his concentration and in turn, his progress with the lock. When he finally got it he practically flung it open, something he immediately regretted as it impacted the wall behind it with a slam. Koraaviik froze, he heard the sound of heavy footsteps stomping around on the floor above him along with words spoken but to his horror, he didn't understand any of it. He crushed the thought, no time. He cast a quick glance into the chest but only saw clothes. Without time to look through the rest he dashed across the room with quick steps, grabbed a handful of the closest books before flinging himself out of the door and onto the street. Koraaviik had only made it a few steps out before he slammed into something, the world spun around before he painfully hit the ground, scattering the books around the street.

Koraaviik was once again reminded of his wounds when the throbbing pain returned with a vengeance. Not to mention he could feel Midwahgeins attention on him through the bond, she must have felt something was amiss. Despite his situation he tried his best to send soothing thoughts along the bond, he had to do this on his own. He held no illusions about Midwahgein, she would gladly come down in fury of flame, claw and teeth if she suspected he was in danger. However murdering the locals would only cause more problems right now. Having done his best to project some calming thoughts through the bond he grabbed the nearest 5 books before pulling himself up from the muddy road, while looking around the dark street for what he had hit. His fears were confirmed when a heard a rough voice behind him mutter something unintelligible.

Koraaviik found himself eye to eye with man, he absentmindedly noticed the mans disheveled look. He wore a thick wool shirt and some rough pants of some unknown fabric held in place by a simple leather belt. His beard and hair looked wild and unkempt, the fact that he was know partially covered with mud did little to improve his looks. The moment the man looked at Koraaviik though, he gave out a startled scream and tried to retreat only to trip over his own feet and fell onto his back with a heavy thud. Koraaviik wondered for a moment if the man was drunk, it seemed plausible, considering the only part of the city that seemed to still be awake was the inn. He briefly considered vaporizing the man in order to avoid witnesses. However, he was quickly reminded of his predicament when he heard the shop owner shout from within the house, a string off unrecognizable words, probably something about him being a thief if he had to guess. He turned on his step, running for all he was worth towards the outcropping from which he entered the city, his side painfully protesting every step of the way.

He reached the rock formation within a few seconds and levitated the books to the top before climbing the few steps, he could hear shouts somewhere behind him, but he didn't dare look. He sprinted through the woods, nearly tripping thrice on roots and rocks before he once again reached the foot of the mountain were he had climbed down. He could still hear sounds from the village but they were distant, chances were they didn't know were he was, at least not yet he told himself as he started the climb back up. Hopefully the trip had been worth it, not only had he failed to find a map, he had been seen. And while he was wearing a mask he feared his carelessness would come back to bite them.

* * *

What always runs but never walks, often murmurs, never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats?


	5. Chapter 5: Little talks

Sorry for the wait, originally planned to post this one a few days ago but then things happened.

Now a guest asked the following question "no levitation spell?" which is a fair question, as there is no such thing as a levitation spell in skyrim. Now the question has two answers.

1: 'The Levitation Act' a law passed throughout the empire in 3E 421 banning the use of levitation magic. Mainly because it posed several security issues and made walls kind of obsolete (the empire loves walls). However no such law existed before that (that we know off) so everyone was free to float around as they saw fit.

2: Bathesda (probably) decided not to make levitation a things because it would make map design complicated.

The answer to the riddle is a a river

We passed 10 followers, and 10 reviews which may not sound like a lot. But it is really awesome and it means a lot to me to know that people like the story.

Anyway, chapter 5: Little talks

* * *

Koraaviik let the book fall from his hands, from there it tumbled onto the cold rocks with a dull thud, the text 'A Dance in Fire, v1' seemingly taunting him from its place by his feet. The time was around early evening judging by the sun, the wind was cold and crisp. It was late on the season, it had snowed during the early morning hours but then stilled off around midday with only a thin white layer covering the surrounding mountains and forests.

He hadn't slept after he returned, he felt like a dead man walking but Midwahgein had said nothing. Something he was thankful for, he didn't want to have an argument about it, he just wanted to know where they were. The books had proven mostly useless, he had acquired five books, none of which he could read as the words were nothing that he recognised, though Midwahgein somehow could. He had asked her how but had only received a half shrug in response, he just added it to his metal list of amazing things that dragons could do.

One of his finds was a book by the name of 'The Warriors Charge' a poem that had burned nicely on the small campfire he had made. The second she read was named 'Cats of Skyrim' a book regarding the Khajiits and sabrecats of skyrim, it met the same fate. The third book, by the name of 'The Refugees' had proven interesting but painfully vague. It was about refugees fleeing 'The Camoran Usurper' and his conquest. Unfortunately Koraaviik didn't recognise the name, that along with the complete lack of any dates was something that only unnerved him further. Then there was 'A Tragedy in Black' a tale of a foolish kid who summoned a daedra only to get himself killed, Midwahgein had actually found that one slightly amusing. The fifth and last book was the first to mention a solid date, he looked down at the book once again, muttering the date Midwahgein had found for what was probably the sixth time. "7th Frostfall, 3 era year 397"

Midwahgein paid him little attention he knew, she was deep in thought, staring out over the great landscape below. The date was neither useful nor useless, they did not know the calendar that was used, they had no idea when it began. They did not know how long an era was, it could be anything between a few hundred to a few thousand years. They didn't not even know if it was still the third era...the book didn't look that old but it might have been a copy of a much older text, they simply didn't know. Reading the book had brought them more questions than answers, he realised. He let out a tired sigh, dragging himself to his feet, his body screaming with exhaustion.

"You should get some sleep" Midwahgein said in a soft tone from where she laid behind him.

He wanted to say no, that they hadn't found what they needed, he briefly considered taking another trip to the village but it was a foolish thought he knew, they would be more active and on the lookout after his first visit.

He felt a lump starting to form in his throat, his body was shaking a bit, stress and exhaustion no doubt.

They knew no one, they were alone.

They didn't know the world they lived in. He didn't know what to do. He had always had a plan, find this book, learn this, go here, avoid that guy, make friends with those people. It seemed like something had always been there to guide him. But now...

His plan may have worked, they may have gotten a second chance but it was looking more and more bleak by the second. He couldn't even talk to people, he didn't know the language, it should've been obvious really that it would've changed along with everything else but at the moment it just seemed like another nail in the coffin.

He let himself fall to his knees.

He had given them a second chance but what did it really matter?

He felt a tear slowly making its way down his cheek, then another, and another.

_Hopeless_, he realized, it all felt hopeless.

He saw her wings moving on both sides of him, he felt her hot breath washing over him and her long neck pulling down, pressing him against her scaled chest. He felt her mind wrap around his, like a protective cocoon, keeping him warm and safe from the unknown that resided just outside. "Rest now little one, we will think of something tomorrow"

He couldn't really muster up a reply.

He fell asleep like that, in the warm embrace of the only thing he hadn't lost.

* * *

As his mind slowly left the sweet embrace of sleep and drifted towards consciousness.

The comfortable warmth was still there but it was joined by hunger. A burning hunger that he hadn't really seemed to notice the day before, perhaps the feeling just got drowned out in all the other things that were going on. He supposed it made sense that he was hungry, after all he hadn't eaten in… well he didn't actually know. Thinking about it he didn't even know if whatever food he had eaten at the time was considered 'part' of him by the enchantment when he was brought back. But, judging by his stomach that didn't seem to have been the case. He slowly pulled himself up, slightly wincing from the pain still present in his side, _I need to do something about that_ he thought to himself. But his entire body felt drained as it was and wasn't sure he could even mange any type of magic right now. As he rubbed his eyes he took note of his surroundings, or rather the wall of scales that was still coiled around him. Suddenly his still sleepy mind seemed to catch up as the memories of the night before came flooding in.

And with it followed a strange mix of feelings, anger, hope, desperation and shame.

He shouldn't have lost it like that.

"I...I'm sorry about last night, I just…"

"You do not need to apologize" she whispered softly moving her head closer, lightly pushing it into his chest in a familiar embrace. "I understand"

She breathed in before pulling her head back and once again letting in light from the outside, as well as the cold air.

"I didn't want to leave you alone but we both needed something to eat" she said, gesturing with her head to two large deer lying in a small pool of blood a short distance from where they were sitting. Deer, that meant she had been hunting...a pang of worry crossed his mind but Midwahgein settled his fear before he could even voice it.

"Do not worry, I was careful not to be seen" And he somehow knew she hadn't been, he had never actually seen her hunt, but she had on more than one occasion managed to sneak up on him while he'd been working. How a Midwahgein had managed it he still didn't know but he suspected some kind of magic was involved.

No matter the way he was grateful for the food she had gathered.

Though there was one thing that was continuing to bothering him. And for that one he kept his thoughts close, careful not to let them wonder down the bond. He was a dragon priest, the sole purpose of his existence was to help the dragons keep the humans in line, make sure the order was held and everyone did as they were supposed to. He was supposed to be a servant of the dragons and take care of their every need and here was Midwahgein taking care of him. It was a strange thought, even though she had only shown him kindness through the years since she found him. She had, as would've been expected, been a ruthless teacher, but time and again she had shown patience no other dragon ever seemed to have with a human outside of a few of the Ancients.

Even though they shared a magical bond it still felt wrong somehow. She was a dragon, a child of Akatosh himself, an immortal being with magic capable of moving mountains and a myriad of natural defenses from nearly impenetrable scales to wings and claws. Greater beings could not be found outside of a divine pantheon.

Midwahgein ripped a chunk of meat off one of the deer, throwing it in his direction before tearing into one of the corpses.

And he, a mere human was now being taken care of by one. Midwagein would have protested he knew. _He was no mere human_. She would say, though he still wasn't quite sure what she saw in him that made him stand out from the rest.

He shook his head, pushing the thoughts to the back of his head, before looking down at the bloody piece of meat wondering briefly if she expected him to eat it like that. However he decided that she was just too hungry to care. With a flick of his hand he cast a simple cutting spell and watched in satisfaction as the large chunk was sliced to bits before he carefully roasted them with a fire spell. It was admittedly primitive, some parts were more cooked than others and few places were blackened, not to mention the lack of spices would make it bland as hell. But despite the simplicity of it it might have been the best meal he'd had in a long time.

As he hungrily dug in he found his mind wandering, past the strange new land and their last stand in the temple. Past the endless political intrigues and the judging glances he'd received one too many times. Back to some more happy times.

He cracked a smile when his mind arrived at a certain event.

Midwahgein looked questioningly in his direction, blood covered most of her face and she had bits of meat stuck between her teeth.

He chuckled a bit to himself at the image before answering the silent question he knew she had.

"You remember my crowning ceremony?"

She swallowed loudly before giving him a nod "Of course I do"

"You were the youngest one to ever be crowned a dragon priest" she continued, a hint of pride in her voice.

"seventeen" he mussed, it felt like a lifetime ago.

Midwahgein was the reason he was even considered for the position. Strength, both physical and magical was one thing, but influence and politics was a whole other kind of field, one he had never walked before she found him. She had vouched for him, he didn't even now such a thing was an option. But thinking back the dragons could pretty much do what they wanted so if she wanted him in the position then who were they to disagree?

That didn't mean they made it easy for him though.

A smile once again sprung to his lips as he remembered some of the 'entertainment' that had been arranged for the event.

"And the throat singers of the reach?" They had apparently been doing it _the old ways_, he didn't think it was too bad. Perhaps a bit exotic? Midwahgein however did not share his thoughts.

She huffed, taking a break from the bloody carcass in front of her "Those howling dogs? How could I ever forget" She finished, in the same tone one would use when talking about a particularly bloody conflict.

He laughed, it was short but pleasant. He still wasn't quite sure how he had managed to pull the whole thing off. _seventeen_, he thought, though it had only lasted three years before the war broke out.

He took in a deep breath, having eaten for the first time in a week felt wonderful, but they still needed to address the question that had houng over him since he woke up. "What are we going to do?"

Midwahgein looked towards the endless stretch of forests and the horizon beyond that. "We need a human with us, one from this time, one we can trust"

She was right he knew, they were fumbling around in the dark as it was and without someone to answer some of the many questions they had piling up it would only get worse. The question was, how would they go about finding such a person?

He briefly entertained the thought of just kidnapping someone and forcing the information out of them and while he didn't really mind the idea as it would be quick and easy he did see a few downsides. They wouldn't know who to take and knowing his luck they would kidnap a dimwit who didn't know anything useful which would mean they had to get another one.

Not to mention the consequences of what would happen if they were discovered, he did not wish to spend the rest of his life on the run because they poked the wrong people.

No, he realized with a bid of disappointment, they would have to take a more careful route. They could not re-introduce themselves to the world with mass murder and kidnappings.

"We could go to Bromjunaar" he suggested after a while. He didn't expect it to still be standing as the last message they had gotten from the outside mentioned it was under heavy siege. But perhaps they would find some clues as to what happened to the rest of the dragons and the priests, assuming they weren't put to the sword.

"If there's anything left it's gotta be there"

She looked him over "You should not get your hopes up, you know as well as I, that it was the center of the war. I would be surprised if there's still any of it left standing"

He nodded sadly, she was probably right but he felt like it would at least be a place to start.

He looked over as Midwahgein stood up, stretching her wings, legs and her long neck. Before lowering her right wing a bit looking at him expectantly as she did.

Koraaviik only stared at her blankly, wondering what she was doing.

"What are you waiting for? Get up" She said, gesturing to her back

"Wait...Wa...You want me to?" He stuttered unsure while halfway pointing at her back, _she wanted him to ride her there? _He thought completely baffled and very much wondering if she was serious or if he was misunderstanding something. He had to be.

Humans didn't ride dragons, no one did.

"Unless you want me to carry you in my claws?" she asked with a bemused glint in her eye.

* * *

Was it sad? I tried to make it sad, never really wrote sad stuff before but hopefully it went alright.

Next up is the college.

When young I am tall. When old I'm small, with life I do glow, yet the breath of men is my foe. what am i?


	6. Chapter 6: The arch-mage

Sorry for the delay, this chapter took me longer to write than I expected. It is however a bit longer than the last one so hopefully that will make up for it ^^

Pretty sure there's at least one wacky sentence in there somewhere...

I also added a few short time skips, nothing major, just hate writing about characters traveling, like...nothing happens, they just sit there, talk a bit and then sit some more...for like a day.

Answer to the riddle is a candle.

Without further ado.

Chapter 6: The arch-mage

* * *

They crossed the border to Winterhold in record time. Carl had been left behind at the temple along with Belrand, the wounds had turned out to be much worse than Onmund had originally thought. Belrand had some form of magical burns all along his right arm along with several broken bones from when he had hit the obsidian stone. Not to mention the numerous cuts from shrapnel or the minor concussion from his landing. They hadn't really managed to get much from him as he had spent most of the time unconscious and the rest was like he was sleepwalking, barely able to keep focus for more than a few seconds. Carl had barely been able to form a coherent sentence but they trusted the man to take care of Belrand and promised to return as quickly as possible. Despite Carls less than brave nature he was one of the best restoration mages at the college who weren't above 60. The climb down the mountain along with the ride back had been done in a rush, the trip that had originally taken two solid days to traverse had been done in half the time on the way back. They pushed the horses to the breaking point and only took a short few hour break along the way to find shelter during a particularly bad snowstorm that had come out of nowhere.

They had gone through the events several times, even gone as far as writing it all down lest they forgot something.

After much discussion they had come to the conclusion that they must've entered through some form of a backdoor as they hadn't seen any major puzzles or other such obstacles that had prevented them passage. The main passage they figured had been the big hallway at the end of the main chamber that had been collapsed.

They had spent much time discussing the nature of the obsidian stone, that had seemingly brought two beings back from the dead, without turning them into walking husks that only existed to obey some necromancers bidding. They had all agreed that this was something more than that. Something none of them had ever seen or heard of before. Though they had little to no idea how. They had several vague ideas, at least to the types of magic involved, but how the whole thing worked... there were simply too little to go on. They couldn't even conduct any tests or observations as the stone had literally been reduced to a fine dust after the resurrection leaving nothing behind. All they had were a few symbols and shapes drawn from memory.

The fact that the dragon proved capable of speech had them all at a loss of words. They had not expected it through it made sense considering they had once ruled the land as Tolfdir had said earlier. That was another thing they had been pondering. The priest, they had a real living human being from the Merethic era somewhere in Skyrim at that very moment. And one from one of the highest ranks of society. Imagine the knowledge that priest had? Imagine the things he had been part off, the places he had seen. This was not the tomb of one of his ancestors or a book on ancient magic, this was a real living person from that time. It was extraordinary to say the least.

The trip back to Winterhold had been the toughest he had ever taken but none of them dared to delay.

As they arrived at the stable they had jumped off the horses, grabbed their notes and bags and then rushed towards the bridge that linked Winterhold and the college. They ran past a confused Faralda who was guarding the bridge before they crossed the courtyard and crashed through the gate to the hall of elements.

The first thing Onmund saw once he entered the familiar room was the arch-mage having a heated argument with a high elf. A _Thalmor_ he realised, aristocratic looks, grey white hair and the sharp features that all high elves seemed to have, the thing that gave him away was the robes.

"That does not give you the right to interrogate the students, despite what you may think…Tolfdir?" Savos finished with a questioning look, only for the High elf to cut in "What is the meaning of this interruption?"

Savos sensing the urgency upon seeing the disheveled look and breathless state of the group turned to the high elf before adding in a serious tone "Perhaps Ancano, it's best if we continue this...discussion at some other time?" The high elf, Ancano looked like he was about to retort when Savos continued like he hadn't noticed "You do know how awfully busy this place can be" Savos finished with a glint in his eye. Ancano narrowed his eyes at being dismissed like that but then he cast a quick look at their group, several emotions passing on his face too almost too quick to notice before his face once again settled on a calm mask as he seemingly to come to some form a conclusion. "Perhaps that is best" he replied in a neutral tone before turning around and disappearing into one of the hallways ropes fluttering behind him.

Savos let out a tired sigh and gave a small shake of his head before motioning the group to follow him. They walked up the stairs and passed several rooms before he led them into his quarters closing the door behind them and muttering something incomprehensible followed by a slight bluish glow appeared on the door before it disappeared.

Onmund looked around in fascination at the contents of room. He had never been to arch-mage's quarters, from his knowledge very few had. He knew Tolfdir visited once in a while but he was the colleges master of alteration and Onmund had always presumed they were old friends.

The first thing he noticed in the room was the small garden in the middle. A small pale tree with a few candlelight spells floating around and several different plants he recognised from his potions class were all growing in the small circular area. Despite the fact that he knew they each had very different and specific requirements to soil and light they seemingly thrived in the small closed room. Another testament to the arch mages powers he thought. There were several shelves along the wall with everything from small boxes to potions ingredients. A bookshelf filled with old tomes, none of which he recognised. Soul crystals, an enchantment table, a cauldron and Talos only knew what else.

The arch mage wave his hand and three chairs flew over to them, each of them gladly obliged and dropped tiredly into the chairs.

The arch-mage gracefully flopped into a chair himself learning forward a bit making it clear that they had his undivided attention. "So" he started pulling a short notebook out of his robe before continuing. "I presume you found something very interesting considering your...looks and the short time you were gone?"

They all nodded though Tolfdir was the first to speak. "We found a real living dragon"

"And a priest" Onmund chipped in.

The dark elf had a look of intrigue pass over his face before it turned to confusion. "A dragon...and a priest? Wait, just, start from the beginning"

Tolfdir lightly shook his head. "Apologies, yes. As you know we found a reference to an old dragon temple some time back"

"It was indeed were the map said it would be, undiscovered and undisturbed, perhaps since the Merethic era." Tolfdir regained some of his well known enthusiasm as he kept talking. "It seemed like we had stumbled upon a back entrance of sorts as these places often tend to have. However as we found our way to the central chamber...The place was unlike anything I have ever seen." Tolfdir stopped only for Jana to continue "A battlefield...It was like a battlefield"

"We found the bones of a dragon in there and just as we were wondering if things could get any more interesting, young Onmund here discovered a dragon priest as well. It seemed like the greatest discovery of the century, perhaps only overdone by some of the Dwemer ruins they recently dug up in Marka-"

"Tolfdir, fokus" Savos interrupted him, clearly sensing the old man was starting to ramble and wanting to keep him on topic.

"Yes of course." Tolfdir said, taking a deep breath "Belrand discovered a large obsidian stone inscribed with a variety of mysterious runes" He said handing Savos some of the drawings and notes they had made, while Jana continued their story "Then something... happened and the stone exploded, at least partially. And-"

"And the dragon became alive again!" Tolfdir interrupted dramatically voice filled with wonder "Multicolored flames burning flesh and bones back into existence, the magic was unlike anything I've ever seen. And it spoke. Real words like you and I are sharing right now!"

Savos took a second to process it, a talking dragon. Well, this was just getting more and more fascinating by the second, unfortunately he found his knowledge about dragons to be lacking at best and nonexistent at worst. "What did it say?" he asked, curious as to what a creature like that would have to say after being brought back from the dead.

"Well it asked us what we did, it was quite confusing really" Replied Tolfdir brows furrowed.

Savos wrote a few notes in the book he had. Before once again returning his attention to the trio. "And the dragon priest?"

"He was revived as well, the dragon left with him though a hidden door in roof before any of us had time to do anything" Jana muttered. Onmund couldn't help but notice how Savos face had gone strangely blank.

Tolfdir and savos locked eyes. Both thinking the same thing. _Imagine the knowledge that priests must have._ A human from the Merethic era. Him being a priest could also give them a unique insight into the mysterious dragon cult. Assuming they could somehow get in contact with him, if he even wanted to talk that was, Savos thought. He had not looked particularly deeply into the Merethic era, it was what? nearly four thousand years ago? But the precious few scriptures regarding the dragon cult did not present them in a good light by any means. He made a mental note to ask Urag to check the library for anything that might have information on them. Thinking about it he needed any information from that time in general, who knew what kinds of things might have changed, cities and active factions who might be relevant not to mention language and customs. He brought a hand up silently rubbing his chin in thought.

"They knew each other" Onmund said in a low voice after a short silence. Suddenly feeling self conscious as all eyes in the room turned to him.

"How do you know?" Tolfdir replied his voice a mix between curiosity and skepticism.

Onmund was silent for a few seconds thinking of the best way to explain it. "It was the way the dragon reacted, it _whimpered_ when it found him dead, it practically jumped across the room when I pointed to the still somewhat intact rock- which it smashed to bring to priest back to life, not to mention that I took the priest with it."

Savos nodded with a thoughtful expression before adding a few extra notes.

The dragon was a whole other sort of problem. They were as far as he knew, supposed to be gone, hunted to extinction through the ages. A real living one could pose as many problems as opportunities. He didn't even know how intelligent they were, but according to the three people in front of him it had proved capable of speech as well as emotions far beyond the basic sleep, food and procreation that drove most creatures. From that alone it seems reasonable to assume they were just as if perhaps even more intelligent than humans. He let out a sigh, information that had seemed useless all his life and had been neglected for that very reason was suddenly the most important thing. Funny how things always seem to come back and bite him, he thought.

This somehow felt bigger than him, bigger than the college, but he had a feeling they needed to keep the cards close for the time being. Especially with the Thalmor 'adviser' currently roaming around the building, questioning students like he owned the place, another thing he would have to look into. However that one seemed like second priority, at least until they knew more about this dragon and the priest. Ever so slowly plan started to take form in his head.

He would have to visit Mirabelle, he knew she had a fair number of contacts around Skyrim, bookworms and collectors of various scriptures and magical artifacts. She would hopefully be able to pull a few strings and get them in touch with some experts, no matter the field there always seemed to be someone who chose to dedicate their entire lives to studying it, much like he had done and still was doing with magic.

"Tolfdir, would you mind taking me to the temple? I would very much like to have a look around"

Tolfdir nodded enthusiastically, himself wanting to have another look. They had rushed in the first time they were there, chances were they had missed important details in their rush to find the main chamber.

"And In the meantime, you two should take a trip to Windhelm perhaps even Whiterun, ask around, see if anyone might have a clue to their whereabouts of those two. But be discreet. If you find anything of use, return immediately, no heroics" Savos left no room for argument.

He threw a pouch at them, the sound of rustling coins could be heard as Onmund caught it. "For the trip, you leave first thing in the morning"

Normally Savos wouldn't have done anything, at least not this publicly. He firmly believed that what goes around comes around. If one were to look around things always seemed to work out in the end, even if said things sometimes needed a little push. However he would not soon forget the last time he had the unfortunate experience of meeting a dragon priest, he still woke up sometimes during the night, cold blue eyes burned into his skull and the rough guttural words it had spoken still echoing through his mind.

They had been three against one, when they faced him. They had thrown every spell they could think of at him, and yet they had stood no chance. Savos was in fact pretty sure it had been playing with them.

He remembered clearly how the priest had nearly burned them to a crisp with chain lighting and a staff that was unlike anything he had seen, bright turquoise light that simmered in the air and rendered whatever it hit little more than a pile of dust. When it became clear they could not beat him Savos had been desperate seal the priest away permanently.

He had bound his last two surviving group members to remain behind, magically enthralled their ghosts and forced them into servitude, pledging them to forever maintain an eternal barrier around the dragon priest. Not his proudest moment he thought with a pang of guilt and sadness for the friends he had lost. However the fear of having a dragon priest in the flesh running freely across Skyrim was too high to ignore. If this one was anything like the one he and his group had fought they would have to be careful, but doing nothing was out of the question.

After the two had left he talked a bit more with tolfdir before he too went to get some rest leaving the arch-mage to ponder the past and future.

He had a feeling that something big was going to happen soon, he just hoped they would be ready for it when the time came.

* * *

Windhelm was a nightmare.

Onmund and Jana had barely even arrived at the bridge to the great city before they were stopped and rigorously questioned by guards who wanted to know everything. Literally everything, were they came from, what business they had in the city, how long were they planning to stay. Onmund had briefly wondered if they were going to question what side of the bed he planned sleeping on but thankfully they hadn't gone that far. Jana had rightfully pointed out that the rise in tensions between the Stormcloaks and the Imperials were at an all time high if they questioned everyone like that for fear of spies.

They had originally planned to stay for a while as well, but as they wandered the frozen streets of the great city looking for small talk with the locals they had found suspicious eyes to be following them everywhere. The few people they did manage to talk to had not seen a dragon, not that they asekd outright, that would only serve to make them look stupid as well as suspicious. They only poked people a few times, asking vague questions about the last few days and some general small talk to not get people more worked up than they already were.

The dark elves and argonians had been friendly and quite helpful after some talking, and while they didn't know anything about a dragon they had other worrying stories to tell. Dark elves and argonians, well pretty much anyone one who weren't a nord were being targeted by groups of stormcloaks and other locals who had decided they were imperial spies. Jana and Onmund more than once during their short time in the city found themselves speechless at the treatment they suffered at the hand of those who should've been there to help them. Not that all the nords had been bad, they had met a handful of cherry fellas, one of whom even felt the need to apologise on behalf of his neighbors.

During the evening of their first day they had both flopped into bed tiredly. The trip to Windhelm had been mostly calm, but they had spent most of the day walking the streets and talking to people and hadn't really gotten any useful information that could be interpreted as 'i saw a massive dragon flying by a few days ago' and with the state of the city neither of them had felt particularly inclined to stay any longer than necessary. So when eating a much needed dinner they had decided to leave first thing in the morning. After some much needed sleep they had left the 'Candlehearth hall' inn, a pretty cozy place early in the morning while it was still somewhat dark outside. The plan was to take a carriage to Whiterun, a trip that would take 2-3 days depending on the weather. They would have to make a few stops along the way of course, but there were plenty of inns spread along the long roads that connected the cities. With a bit of luck their trip would be quick and uneventful.

However, that hope was shattered shortly after they got out the front door.

A group of 7 people, some looked like drunks who spent half their time on the streets while the other half looked like they were a bit better off.

The one leading the group, a brute, 5 foot 10 with a stocky build, short hair and a big unkempt beard. He had a wooden club in his hand, one he seemed all too eager to use as he used it as a pointer at an argonian as he spoke.

"Ey lads, I wonder what an argonian are doing out here at this hour" the 'leader' drooled out, clearly drunk.

"Probably sneaking around" Said a second man, older guy, ragged clothes and dirty face but somehow still managing to sound smug.

"I'm not looking for trouble" the argonian forced out through gritted teeth, clearly wanting nothing more than to smack the guy silly. Onmund was pretty sure he could do it as well, the argonian was practically a mountain compared to the leader, he was well fit and easily a head taller with pale read scales. He was wearing a thick cloth shirt and pants that were clearly made with the cold temperatures in mind, decent if a bit worn. A gruff voice pulled him back to the present.

"Oh yes you are argonian, you and the rest of your kind is nothing but trouble" spat a third. A somewhat thin bald man with a knife in his hand.

They were closing in on the argonian, pushing him back towards a wall. Onmund frantically looked around and then silently cursed, why were there no guards nearby? He could've sworn he saw two when they left the inn a few seconds ago. _How convenient _he thought. _The guards suddenly disappear when_ _the idiots decide to gang up on one of the 'outsiders'._ This city really was something else.

"Hey!" Onmund shouted at the group, who then promptly turned around and started looking at him like he was their next target.

Quickly realising his mistake he added "Just...calm down okay?" while holding his hands up in an effort to show he didn't mean any harm.

The 'leader' looked at him and Jana, eyes narrowing in suspicion, before his face suddenly changed back into an aggressive snarl again.

"You! I've seen you two, asking questions and snooping around were you don't belong!"

The 'leader said, swinging the bat wildly around.

"I saw them at the grey quarters last night, they are probably working with the rest of those filthy imperials!" all but declared the second guy, finger pointing aggressively in their general direction.

"Listen, we don't want any problems, we were just about to leave" Jana calmly said pointing at the gates while giving a discreet nod to the argonian to leave while the group's attention was on something else.

"You better!" The 'leader' spat pointing the bat at them in a clear threat.

Onmund and Jana slowly grabbed their satchels before backing off, one small step at a time in an attempt to not get the group even more worked up. One they had their feet outside of the main gate they ran.

Just then, they heard a confused voice behind them.

"Wait...what happened to the lizard?"

They found the argonian halfway down the bridge, arms crossed in the shadows of a doorway.

They took a quick look back towards the gates to make sure the group hadn't followed and upon finding it hadn't they joined him inside the small corridor. The walls sheltered them from the worst of the wind, though the temperature was still freezing.

"You're not from around here" The argonian said matter of factually. Eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Were from Winterhold" Onmund said with a half smile, trying to loosen the tension a bit.

The argonian looked them over for another few seconds, taking note of their clothes, bags and lack of weapons before seemingly reaching the conclusion that they weren't there to kill him.

"The name is Thorak. I suppose I owe you one for helping me get away bag there"

Though clearly weary of them he seemed grateful for their help

"Why are they like that?" Asked Jana. They were used to getting a cold shoulder from most of the people in Winterhold, mostly because they didn't trust the magic that they worked with at the college. And while Jana understood how people could fear the unknown she didn't understand why they were so damn dedicated to not knowing anything about it. It was like they had reached the conclusion that magic was evil and wasn't interested in listening to anyone else's opinion about it. To her it was common knowledge that you would never broaden the mind if you feared the unknown. But like the group of people they just met it seemed that not everyone shared her point of view.

"Their minds are clouded by fear" He said disdainful. Reptilian eyes glaring at the now closed gates "It's been like that since Ulfrik took the throne"

Onmund and Jana looked at each other, neither had known anything about. They had of course heard that Ulfrick had killed Torygg, presumably in a trial by combat, but nothing beyond that. They really needed to get out more often, Winterhold was isolated as it is, but the college was even more so, no one seemed to really care all that much about what happened in the outside world.

"We're taking a carriage to Whiterun…" She said a bit unsure "If you need a lift"

He looked back at the gates before letting out a sigh while slightly shaking his head.

"Yeah… Why not, I'm sure they can make do without me at the docks for a while"

* * *

"Hey Onmund, heard anything from you family?"

Onmund looked up from the book he was reading, one on theory on fire magic, firebolts in particular. The carriage bumped lightly after hitting a rock, their driver whistled an unknown tune in the background, while the birds chipped somewhere above in the trees.

"Yeah, I received a letter from my mother a few weeks back, she essentially just told me about all the things I was missing out on at home and how they still think moving to the college was a bad idea"

Thorak raised a scaly eyebrow but said nothing.

"I know she is trying to say she misses you and all that but she sure has a strange way of doing it" Jana said with a slight scowl before looking at Thorak

"What about you? Got any family in Windhelm?"

"My mother left when I was young, never knew her" Thorak said in an indifferent tone.

"What about your father?" Jana asked cautiously, suddenly feeling like she was intruding but still curious to know.

"He fell, a few years back"

"I'm sorry" Now feeling even more badly about asking.

Thorak huffed dismissively before adding in a somber tone "Sooner or later everyone does"

Jana wasn't sure how to respond so she just remained silent, deciding to observe the landscape instead.

It was at this point Onmund realised he'd never actually seen an argonian before. There were none in the area were he used to live with his family and he never met one at the college either. Not that he had anything against them, like the cajits they were a bit different from humans but close enough that it didn't really bother him. Thinking about it, the only cajit he'd ever met was J'zargo and he didn't exactly set the bar that high. Like he was decent enough and hard working but his social skills were somewhere between 'passive aggressive' and 'I am better than you'. Onmund couldn't help but smile at the whole thing.

He really needed to get out more often...

* * *

Things are going to be picking up a bit with the next few chapters, so fun times ahead.

You will find him in the mountains, and you'll find him in the creek. He has no mouth - Yet he speaks in every tongue.

He has no ears - And yet will answer every cry. Always having the final word. You heard me before, you hear me again, then I die, 'Til you call me again.


	7. Chapter 7: Bromjunaar

Another chapter, yay! And 20 followers, even more yay! ^^

I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I got a job. And the bad news is that I got a job. I'll be trying to keep the weekly (+/- a few (many) days) upload schedule.

However I'm suffering from a severe case of being too self critical which means I often end up going through my already written chapters like 6-7 times adding, deleting and rewording most of it until I'm more or less satisfied. I won't be able to do that now and still maintain a decent upload schedule. What this means is that you might expect to see a (hopefully only small) drop in quality and detail but it's better than nothing. If all goes well you won't even notice it.

Still no beta, and now that my time is a bit more limited there's bound to be at least one wacky sentence.

Answer to the riddle is an echo.

Without further ado

Chapter 7: Bromjunaar

* * *

"Wah?"

Onmund muttered tiredly when the carriage hit a particularly large rock, almost throwing him from his seat. He'd been dozing on and off for most of the trip since they left the Nightingale inn, the place had been a bit bleak, with only one other customer who were seemingly only there to drink. The innkeeper, Hadring had talked about his grandfather and the history of the inn for so long that Onmund had actually felt a bit awkward just standing there and nodding. Luckily Jana had made some excuse and dragged him off to a table.

Thorak had been mostly silent, seemingly content with just listening and looking at the wilderness as they slowly drove along. Onmund had tried to talk with him several times but the argonian only answered with short sentences or yes and no, promptly stopping the conversation before it even began. Jana seemingly had an endless supply of books to read and so, without anyone to talk to Onmund had found nothing else to do than get a few hours of sleep, judging by the sun decided that it was around noon.

As he slowly rubbed his eyes he saw a snickering Jana and an argonian who seemingly hadn't moved an inch since Onmund started his nab.

She closed the book and put it in her satchel. "Was about to wake you myself, were almost there" she said pointing towards something behind him, he groggily turned around in his seat and saw a massive wall.

He blinked a few times trying to clear his vision. They were literally right beside the city, well almost, there were still a mill and a few fields between them and the walls but it looked impressive nonetheless. Thick stone walls that he was sure had seen better days circled the entire city and a few wooden guard towers with burning torches were spread out along the top of the wall. A massive wooden structure was visible as it reached far above the wall, impressive architecture, no doubt the fabled dragonsreach, the building housing the jarl and his family. Other than that there were a few houses spread around the city, most looking like farms of one sort or the other. Between the farms were great grass plains with scattered rocks and trees that seemingly continued all the way to the mountains in the distance.

They crossed a river on an old stone bridge before passing a great wooden building with a sign saying 'Honningbrew meadery'. Probably some of the local stuff, he made a mental note to try some when they reached the inn.

As they continued on the road they passed several more farms and mills each with people busing around before finally coming to a stop at a stable near the gates of Whiterun.

Passing through the first gate they followed a winding road across a small stream of water. Then came a second gate,

A Raised plateau overlooked the road with several guard towers. The city was well protected, tree gates and numerous choke points where potential invaders could get pelted with arrows. Onmund was quite impressed, Winterhold didn't even have a city gate.

As they walked towards the first gate they couldn't help but wonder why it was closed and blocked by two city guards.

"Hold!" The guard shouted as they got closer. The one beside him had his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"The city is closed with the dragons about"

The...what? How'd they know? Had something happened?

Before any of them could ask any questions the gate was opened from the inside and out ran a group of soldiers lead by a dark elf in sturdy leather armour. Some of the soldiers had a sword and shield, others had bows or spears.

"What's going on?" Jana asked as she dragged one of the guards aside before they could run off with the rest.

"A dragon is attacking the watchtower, were going to kill the monster!" The guard said confidently, before running off.

Onmunds heart dropped

Oh no.

* * *

Flying was just about the best thing he'd ever experienced.

He was once again left in awe at how gracefully Midwahgein moved through the air, a few strong beads of her mighty wings and they had been airborne, a few more and they were sent forward faster than any horse could ever dream off.

His weariness of 'riding' her had disappeared almost as soon as they got airborne, though the feeling of wrongness still lingered. _She asked you to do it remember?_ She had, but it still felt wrong.

She had taken it somewhat slowly at first, ascending high enough to not call attention to themselves and keeping the speed at a low. However upon feeling his excitement bleed through the bond she had stepped it up a bit. Increasing her speed and altitude while adding a few simple acrobatics, some spins and dives.

The speed, the feeling of the wind in his face. It was exhilarating.

The temperatures were freezing though, the cold winds biting his skin as the wind roared around them.

"Is this how to feels to fly?"

He asked disbelievingly, and then added the first question that popped to mind.

"Why don't you do it all the time?"

"Because while the sky has many things, there are things it doesn't have"

"Like what?"

She turned her head slightly revealing a toothy grin "Food"

She then turned sharply to the left, almost going for a vertical dive down through the clouds. Heat beating like crazy he held on for dear life.

As she broke through the clouds and she slowed down to an easy glide he finally pulled himself together enough really appreciate the view. It was probably around midday, the weather was clear and the sun high in the sky.

The trees below were little more than green dots, blending together to form a carpet that was then split by rivers, mountains and lakes. In the distance in front of him he could make out a mountain range, one that took him an extra few seconds to recognize due the never having seen it from the sky before.

The mountains had no name that he was aware of, but he knew Bromjunaar was nestled in between them, the once great capital shouldn't be too hard to find, even if they had burned it and tore most of the buildings to the ground there would still be remnants. There had to be something if only a massive empty area were the city one stood.

And indeed there was.

He had tried to prepare himself for the sight, telling himself it would be gone with little to no remains. The sight still hit him hard, Bromjunaar had been the capital of Skyrim. An ancient city as hard and sturdy as the land it was built on. He briefly wondered how long the siege must've taken, he could see no visible holes in the walls as they glided slowly over the city. The location made it nearly impossible to bring siege equipment to bring down the gate, as they would have to drag them up a steep set of stairs while under fire from the city walls. No, they must have starved them out, Bromjunaar had not gone down without a fight. The granaries were massive and Koraaviik knew there were additional storehouses with dried food as well as a small river running through the mountains. Bromjunaar was bastion, filled with the most dedicated and well trained people available at the time. He wouldn't be surprised it they had held the city for months.

Though he supposed he would never know, unless they found someone who survived to tell the tale, and somehow he didn't think that was going to happen anytime soon.

Midwahgein landed in the middle of the ruined city, mighty wings blowing snow into the air and further ruffling his already messed up hair.

He slid down from where he had been sitting on her neck almost stumbling as he landed heavily on the ground. He supposed it would require a bit more than a mouthful of food to get his body up and running. He rolled his shoulders a bit, attempting to get some of the stiffness out of them, he'd been using every single muscle he had to stay in place in the air, despite the surprisingly enjoyable trip he still had the distinct lack of any flight capabilities which made it difficult to relax when several hundred feet up.

Midwahgein had landed on a relatively small platform, the whole area was covered with a thin layer of snow. The wind was gentle enough that he didn't need to use magic to stay warm, using the cover of the buildings would of the buildings, they were...more intact than he expected. The place looked deserted and the structures had clearly suffered from long exposure to the elements and a lack of maintenance. The place looked deserted, deserted but not destroyed. That confused him a bit, why would they not have raced the place when they broke the defences?

It would've sent a strong message to the remaining survivors, but perhaps that was what they had intended with this as well?

He walked down the small stay case, gliding his hand across the familiar stones.

By sparing the city they would've shown the mercy that the dragons had sorely lacked during their long and bloody rule. By not wiping the city from the map they could show that they were willing to work with it, to do the hard work that would no doubt follow a war like that, to build instead of destroy. Yeah, that made sense. Though it was of course a wild guess. It could just have been the case that the city was abandoned and left to rot due to the history and countless atrocities that had happened there.

He wouldn't blame them if that was what they had settled on.

_Guess I'll never know._ He thought, but then again, what did it really matter? Either way the place was little more than an abandoned ruin. Well, some of it anyway

He caught sight of something moving out of a small burrow on his left, not a burrow he realised it was the sanctuary. And the movement was identified as a hulking white furrball.

He waved his arm and a 6 foot long ice spear flew forwards, impaling the creature to the wall with a crack. Koraaviik watched as it breathed a last few ragged breaths before going limp, a pool of blood quickly forming at its feet.

"An ice troll" he said sadly "The place really is deserted then"

He wasn't really sure what he'd been expecting, but he _had_ hoped for something, anything really. He knew hoping for another dragon priest to just come out and say hello was ridiculous, but perhaps there were some sign of what had happened, were they'd gone, assuming they hadn't all died off like he and Midwahgein. Perhaps some of them had fled, perhaps they had left something behind, a sign or a message, perhaps… some of them even found their own way to survive?

By Akatosh he really should stop hoping for the impossible, they were long gone and that was it. If the ancient stone walls were falling apart he could only imagine what state the books would be in. No, they were alone and would have to make do with what they had.

That didn't mean that he shouldn't have a look around though, if only to calm his mind.

He turned away from the dead troll and walked around the snow covered ground, several of the buildings were collapsed and most of those we weren't had big cracks in them from were the stone had simply given up and fallen apart. He found a small building, well the entire front wall was missing but the rest was still standing. The inside was covered in snow and contained nothing but a few broken pots and some stones from the collapsed wall. There was no sign of the door, _probably rotten away by know_ he thought sadly. There were several other spots were he knew buildings once stood, now there weren't even rubble left. Some of the scattered stones might once have been a chimney but who knew. At some point he found himself in front of the main gates to the underground part of the city. The great circular archway above his head and the closed gates in front of him gave him a strange sense of trepidation. He didn't really feel at home, the place never felt like home to him, but it was the closest thing he'd ever gotten to belong somewhere.

The doors didn't look like they'd been used in a long time, no marks in the snow around the area and the only sign of life in the area was a now dead ice troll. He heard lumbering footsteps approaching from behind.

"Do you think there's anything left inside?" he said, running a hand over the cold metal doors.

"Probably not" She said dismissively.

He turned around to look at her questioningly. He had not expected that one, he had not seen the temple after they had woken up like she had but he there were still remnants of the city and architecture here and probably other magical relics remaining inside so there was no reason for her to dismiss it like that...unless.

"You don't want me to go?" he stated, as much a question as it was a statement.

"..."

Both their heads snapped in the direction of the sound, each wondering if what they heard had indeed been real.

It was a barely audible echo, but the sound was unmistakable.

"Was that…?"

"The roar of a dragon…get up" She said, no trace of the previous conversation.

They raced down from the maintain range and across the seemingly endless plain they had crossed on their journey to Bromjunaar. Only this time they didn't care about not getting seen. They flew by a small camp of hunters who jumped for cover but neither Midwahgein nor Koraaviik cared, just as they were both starting to accept the fact that they were alone they had heard another dragon.

Neither of them recognized the voice, well more like a roar, which was another reason for why they were now racing across the land. The sound had been a battle roar, a challenge, they didn't know who the dragon was fighting but considering how they had seen no sign of their previous empire. Not to mention that the opinion of anything dragon related was at an all time low when they lost the war.

Koraaviik wasn't aware of any way for a dragon to be brought back to life besides the one he had used, and he had only used that on Midwahgein and himself. So chances were that this dragon had been around since the war, somehow surviving the rebellion and whatever followed.

Finding the dragon may provide them answers to some of their many questions.

After a while they caught sight of smoke in the distance, which as they got closer was revealed to be coming from what looked like an old guard tower, with a destroyed wall and grassy plains that were bathed in flames. They circled around a few times, taking in the scene. He could see the outline of several bodies in the smoke, human bodies, some in better condition than others.

But no sign of a dragon.

Strange.

Midwahgein landed heavily in the middle of the area, looking around in the sky for clues about where it might have gone.

Koraaviik could see the silhouette of a city in the distance but saw no smoke from it nor did he see anything flying around in the sky and so he turned his attention to the watchtower. It was a simple, and old construction that seemed to be in a state of disrepair but judging from the burning torches it still saw use.

He walked over to one of the more intact bodies and crouched down, it was lying face down on the grass, no weapon or shield in the area . He flipped the body around, taking note of the bloody chest and slightly torn armour in the area, probably got slapped with the tail, chances were he died instantly. He was wearing thick boots, leather scale armour with a chainmail underneath. The head was covered with a sturdy looking helmet, but had no gloves or bracers to protect his arms which seemed a bit weird. All around the man seemed well protected, not that any of those things would help him against a dragon, as he no doubt found out. The gear seemed to be in fine condition as well and couldn't have been cheap. The colors matched on the corpses in the area so perhaps they were some kind of mercenaries or perhaps even guards from the nearby city? Maybe a guild of some sort, he couldn't really think of other military groups who would be willing to pay for uniform colors like that.

He took another look around, Midwahgein were still watching the sky through the smoke so he decided to give the tower a go, perhaps he could learn something. He walked around, avoided a few scorched rocks before reaching the halfway crumbled path towards the door, which on further note wasn't there, it was just a doorway, open for all to enter. What really caught his attention was the lone flag that was calmly fluttering in the wind. A black flag with a red dragon on it.

How, very interesting. First another dragon and now this? Perhaps they weren't as alone as they had originally thought?

He continued up the path before carefully making his way inside the doorway and immediately spun around as he heard a sound to his right. There, right by the stairs was a man, clothing identical to the rest except he lacked a helmet. Koraaviik tilted his head slightly, taking in the man's appearance.

Around 5 foot 8, short brown hair and wide panicked eyes. .

He was pressing himself up against the wall, seemingly considering to run up the stairs but for some reason not doing it. His breathing was quick, sword pointed at him. Koraaviik briefly considered defending himself but even though the guard had a sword in his hands they were shaking badly and his knuckles were bone white from his tight grip on the sword.

Koraaviik suddenly remembered the last person he'd met, well stumbled into really. That drunk guy on the street who had had a similar reaction, although this one was a bit more contained. _Your eyes_, his mind suddenly supplied, _Of course, the man probably just fought a dragon and here I am with identical eyes, scale armour and a dragon mask_. Not to mention that he arrived to the watchtower riding on the back of a dragon, guy must be scared shitless. He would need to calm him down first, then he could try and get Midwahgein to talk to him. She seemed strangely proficient with the language, despite how different it was.

The man shouted something, while swinging the sword aggressively around. It was only by sheer force of will that koraaviik didn't burst out laughing at the display, it was hard to feel threatened by a nervous soldier with a short sword when you had seen a rampaging dragon, nothing really seemed to compare.

Well atleast the man hadn't panicked yet. Koraaviik raised his hands while taking a step backwards, trying his best to not seem aggressive.

The soldier held his sword up, but his eyes seemed a bit more focused. Good, if koraaviik could make him realise he wasn't about to get killed that would make communication significantly easier.

Another roar echoed from outside and it wasn't Midwahgein.

Koraaviik left the guard without a second look and stormed out the opening of the tower just in time to see the shape of a dragon pass over the mountains flying straight towards them.

* * *

Gotta love cliffhangers

Next chapter isn't too far away.

No man has seen it, but all men know it. lighter than air, sharper than any sword.

comes from nothing, but will fell even the strongest of armies. of what do I speak?


	8. Chapter 8: Mirmulnir

Finally! A new chapter!

And a nice long one at that :3

And 29 followers, that's like more than doubled since the last chapter. ^^

So, this one was difficult for a number of reasons, some of which i will address at the end of the chapter. The main thing is that work turned out to be more taxing than i thought. That and i may have ended up rewriting like 80% of the chapter...so there's that.

Despite the long wait some parts of the chapter may appear a bit rushed and may contain wacky sentences and all that good stuff.

Answer to the riddle is hunger.

Without further ado.

Chapter 8: Mirmulnir

* * *

He jumped over the railing of the destroyed walkway, landing on the hard rocks below before moving over to his bonded.

Koraaviik stayed in the background, within sight but not close enough to be in the way. They couldn't risk it.

As the dragon landed Koraaviik was both relieved and at the same time made even more nervous. The slightly pale scales, broken spikes and numerous scars as well as slightly torn wings were a telltale sign of an elder. Though Koraaviik had never seen one this old. No, old didn't really fit, ancient was more like it. Younger dragons were known for their rash and aggressive behavior, often attacking first and asking questions later. Elders however possessed wisdom and knowledge fitting for their age, and while they were often several thousand years old their long life gave them experience and strength that few dragons possessed. This one seemed like no exception, It was clear that it wasn't afraid of standing its ground with countless scars that littered his scales. The downside to this being an elder was that if he decided they were trespassing on its territory and wanted them gone, there was little to nothing they could do about it.

What not to do when facing an elder? He knew not to look them in the eyes, it would be disrespectful at best, and a death sentence at worst. Don't speak unless spoken to, like before it was seen as a sign of disrespect. The rest conveniently left his mind as it landed.

The dragon stood tall, head held high in a clear show of dominance. He was a fair bid larger than Midwahgein with a much more stocky and muscular build. Worn dark brown scales along the back with a much lighter, almost sand colored belly and wings.

By tradition it was the elder who spoke the first words, and they didn't have to wait long.

"Ahnok dovah, an unexpected surprise" He grumbled, voice old and rich and eyes that held a glint of something he couldn't quite place.

Midwahgein lowered her head, before replying "Drem yol lok. I am Midwahgein. Apologies for trespassing on your territory, but we are in need of...assistance"

Koraaviik tried his best to follow the conversation, he recognized Drem yol lok from the few times he'd been around the dragons before the war.

It meant _Peace fire sky_, a formal greeting between two dragons. And it was expected for a younger dragon when addressing an elder.

It was meant to show respect of territory and the withholding of aggression between two dragons. Midwahgein seemed fairly tense though the ancient dragon showed no sign of noticing.

"We?" It said questioningly, eyes scanning the area for the figure it had apparently missed. Koraaviik took that as his cue and stepped forward, holding his head low and avoiding eye contact.

It's eyes narrowed.

"Dovah-sonaak, a dragon priest. I thought your kind died off long ago" The ancient said with a snarl, revealing rows of teeth. Koraaviik wasn't sure if he was supposed to answer, and even if he was he wasn't sure what kind of answer it expected, nothing he could think of really seemed fitting. The dragon seemed less than friendly, something didn't bode well.

The ancient turned its attention back to Midwahgein eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Alduin thuri, would not have brought him back" It finished, eyes boring into Midwahgein. Koraaviik flinched, this seemed more like an interrogation than a meeting between old allies.

Meanwhile he was trying to digest the information the elder seemed to be throwing around. Alduin was alive? They had all gotten the message that Alduin had fallen, the rebellion had been at its highest when it happened. And when alduin fell and it became clear that the dragons could be defeated, well the war didn't last long after that, it seemed like everyone suddenly had the will to fight, men women and children. They had won by a landslide as well, there's only so much you can do when the enemy outnumbered you by thousands.

"Alduin did not bring us back, Koraaviik did" She said reluctantly, gesturing to him. Her voice sounded tense, not only her voice he noted. Her entire body was tense, ready to jump into action at a moments notice.

The ancient dragon froze for barely a moment before it's head turned to fully face Koraaviik who didn't dare move.

"Is that so?" it said in a strangely neutral tone, looking once again at Midwahgein who stood still, clearly weary of the ancient dragon.

"I never cared much for you traitorous humans" It admitted accusingly, but koraaviik new better than to retort.

"You lived your small and insignificant lives without bothering me"

Koraaviik felt the edge of Midwahgeins tail rest move across his leg. Followed by her voice ringing through his head "_When I give the word, you run" _

"_I'm not leaving you" _he replied stubbornly, though the severity of the situation was starting to make itself clear, the ancients aggressive posture was a clear warning of where they were going.

The ancient continued, clearly oblivious to the silent conversation between the two.

"But when you rebelled, and slaughtered my kind, hunted us to extinction like some common good for nothing animal" It spat the last few words, apparently blaming the entire human race for the rebellion, and the hunts that apparently followed, something Koraaviik had feared but had know gotten confirmation on. He silently cursed, it only made sense that the humans would want revenge for centuries of oppressive ruling but hunting the dragons to extinction was wrong, doing that proved that they were no better than the dragons, in fact they were worse. The dragons at least let the humans live, it might not have been a perfect life but they lived nonetheless. The idea of a peaceful and just human empire that had slowly been building in his mind crumbled.

"When you killed every dragon you could get you filthy hands on, that all changed" It took a small step forward, claws digging into the hard soil.

"Despite your titles and clothing you are just like the rest of them, rotten to the core!" It practically roared the last bit.

Midwahgein re-positioned herself so that she was halfway blocking koraaviiks view of the ancient, something that was rewarded with another angry snarl.

"You would choose a pathetic Joor over a fellow dov?" It asked, voice somewhere between disappointment, betrayal and hatred.

"You are giving no choice" she squeezed out through gritted teeth.

"Then so be it, your death will be swift"

"_Now!" _Her voice screamed through his head, loud enough to make him cringe. Koraaviik sprung into action, body turning around and sprinting towards the nearest part of the outpost wall.

"Yol Toor-" Koraaviik looked behind him just in time to see the ancient dragon get a tail smacked into his face, interrupting the shout and sending him stumbling to the side from the force. He shook his head before turning to face Midwahgein face set in an angry snarl.

"A traitor and a coward!" he roared jumping forward slamming his entire body into an unprepared Midwahgein. They wrestled each other, tumbling around like a massive pile of scales, claws and teeth. They crashed into the wall, making the already badly damaged structure crumble completely under the weight of the two dragons. She had a bloody gash across her neck from were the other dragon had managed to tear through the scales. She managed to get a stable footing but the much bigger ancient pushed her back before back before she could retaliate.

Midwahgein managed to use her smaller size and weight to doge to the side, almost making the ancient dragon stumble forwards, before he could turn around she pushed the dragon to the side and sank her teeth into his shoulder, making him roar in pain.

He pushed her back with one of his wings and they were once again having a standoff. Each refusing to back down.

"We are not here to fight you"

"Liar!" the ancient roared before charging again.

Koraaviik was not about to leave her to fight it alone, her orders be damned. Though he had never fought a dragon before so he would have to think quickly. How did you kill a dragon, fire? No

He had seen dragons bath each other in flames with no visible effect. Ice? That could work, but he would imagine that he would have to put quite a bit of energy into it to do any real damage. Same issue was present when it came to conventional weapons like swords and axes. A dragons hide was tough and highly resistant to both cutting and stabbing. Perhaps blunt force weapons could be effective but he didn't really have any such weapons on him.

He knew dragons had week spots, places were the scales were much softer and therefore more vulnerable. The wings, inside of the legs, armpits and eyes. But of course the dragon knew they it had those weak spots and would no doubt do everything to keep them away from harm.

One wrong move and he would be dead. Perhaps he should go for a solid distraction instead to allow Midwahgein to get the upper...wing.

Koraaviik pondered his opportunities, his magic was still low, he wouldn't be able to throw that much around before going dry, magical exhaustion was the last thing he needed, that would make him practically useless. No 2 or 3 well placed spells was all he had to work with. Now were to attack? The nehimd would result in him getting slapped by the tail, the sides were covered by the wings, if he got punished by those he would probably be either dead or dying and the head was definitely out of the question. Underneath? No he would just get trampled. The back...stupid but it might work. He looked around, he needed a weapon and since his old sword was now lying somewhere in the temple, probably covered with rust and dirt he would need a quick replacement. He jumped from his cover to one of the dead soldiers bodies, grabbed a spear and ran towards the guard tower. The soldier was nowhere to be found, probably fled when he had the chance.

He had made it up the first few slides of stairs and into a floor that was missing most of a wall when he almost stumbled from a spike of pain that pulsed through his chest, he dragged himself to the edge just in time to see Midwahgein push the other dragon away with a bloody gash across it's left eye. She was however bleeding from several puncture wounds in her chest area.

The ancient had somehow gotten her onto her side and then bit into her chest only for her to claw it's right eye out.

Without further thought he jumped from the hole in the wall spear aimed at the dragon. He landed heavily on it's back, the spear firmly jammed into the spot between the wing and the spine.

The dragon reared upwards, throwing Koraaviik onto the ground. It spun around and roared before it's head shot forward, clearly intending to bite him.

He briefly considered throwing an ice spear down it's throat but he had to jump to the side before he could act on it. The jaw snapped shut right were he had been a second ago, he got it's attention alright.

He flipped around to face the dragon again, barely getting up from the ground before the dragon opened its mouth, eyes practically burning with rage.

"Fo krah diin!"

Koraaviik quickly threw up his arms and summoned the strongest ward he could think of, the storm of ice and snow blasted against the ward and he immediately felt the drain on his already depleted reserves.

The ward held up well, though he could feel the cold wins roaring past him, the ground beside him immediately froze and cracked and the few plants around was sliced or broken by pieces of ice.

Time seemed to slow down during the onslaught. After two seconds, his arms were shaking.

After four seconds his legs felt wobbly.

After six seconds he was barely able to stand, he only lost his focus for less than a second but that was all it took, the ward flickered and promptly faded and he was faced with the full force of the shout. It felt like an ice wall smashed into his face, the world spun as he flew through the air before hitting the ground hard, rolling around several times before coming to a stop. It took a moment of silence before he realised the shout had stopped.

He coughed a few times before rolling onto his stomach, slightly lifting himself up, he absentmindedly realised his arms were covered in cuts and bruises.

He looked up, his vision was blurry and he had to blink a few times before it cleared enough for him to see the scene taking place. Midwahgein had jumped over and grabbed the ancients head with her claws and then used her momentum to slam it into the wall of the guard tower partially making it collapse in the process the ancient looked like it was about to get back up when she slammed her right wing into its head knocking it into the ground again.

Koraaviik wasn't really sure if it the dragon was still moving, he couldn't quite get his vision to focus.

Midwahgein attacked again, clearly not taking any chances.

She used the claws on her wings to grab hold of the dragons head before she stated slamming it into the ruined stones from the tower, again and again. After the first four hits the rocks were bloody.

Koraaviik was taken aback by the brutality, the ancient struggled, it clawed at her but she ignored it, it's head hit the ground again and then again, this time it was followed by a crack as one of the horns broke off.

She took a few unsteady steps back, breathing heavily.

The ancient was still.

Her head turned around, eyes catching his before she started walking towards him, however she didn't even make it halfway before collapsing heavily onto her side.

His mind immediately jumped to the wounds she had received during the fight, the bite in her chest, the gash along her neck the numerable scratches along her side and wings. She was practically covered with blood.

He clumsily pulled himself to his feet, limping as fast as he could. Heart pounding in his chest. He knew it looked bad but the wounds weren't that deep, only superficial. She was just exhausted from the fight that was all.

He dropped down in front of her, her eyes were closed. Blood was still flowing from the wound along her neck, he couldn't really see anything on her chest since it was covered with dirt and blood but he hoped the wounds there weren't deep.

He mentally checked the link, anything to make sure she was fine, the link was alive, but she was clearly weak and in pain judging from the pounding headache he was having as well as pain limbs he didn't have. Something he didn't even know was possible.

He tried running a hand along her face "Don't you dare die on me"

"I'm not dying" She all but whispered, halfway opened eyes and something that might have resembled a smile if it wasn't for the pain shining through.

His hands were shaking "Y...your neck?" there was so much blood.

She huffed, almost dismissively. "It's not as bad as it looks...his aim was off"

"How do you know?"

She closed her eyes again, a pained breath leaving her "If it wasn't I would be dead"

He didn't like the sound of that, it made it sound like it was more luck than anything that she made it through the battle. He should've done something else, there were so many other quicker ways he could've distracted that dragon. And ice spear to the side, a sword in its wing, hell he could've used telekinesis to drop rocks from the tower on it. He looked back at it, the spear was still firmly lodged in it's back, despite the rough beating it took, at least he hit something, he couldn't imagine what would've happened if his aim had been of and the spear had glanced harmlessly off the scales. He'd pressed himself too far with the ward too, that didn't stop him from using what sad little remains he had on a healing spell to Midwahgeins neck, to hell with magical exhaustion. When the warm glow receded the wound was still here but the worst of the bleeding was mostly stopped.

He sank to the ground, leaning against her chest. Somehow he felt even more exhausted than before, he feared it was mostly adrenaline that was keeping him awake and focused. He knew he would feel the consequences later but casting one look at Midwahgein made it all feel worth it. His wounds weren't that bad either all things considered, his mask and armor kept him mostly protected, his arms and legs were a mess through. Numerous cuts and bruises that he could do nothing about. He was drained as it was and after dealing with the wound on her neck the best he could, he was just about ready to drop.

"I told you to run" She muttered tiredly.

"Like i would leave you to fight that one alone"

He saw a glint of orange reflected on her scales. Something that hadn't been there a moment ago. He turned his head to look back towards the tower.

A flake broke off from the ancient and floated in the air. A small piece, almost looking like a scale that moved around for a bit, slowly burning away to nothing.

Both koraaviik and Midwahgein was staring at it in tired bafflement.

Then more broke off, flames started flowing around the dragon as the flakes started to fly around in some unseen wind. The head and wings started burning as the flames increased in intensity.

They were both looking in fascination as the flames burned away scales and flesh, leaving nothing but bones behind.

Everything seemingly forming a flowing wind of flames with streaks of blue and gold.

The flaming wind flowed around increasing in speed and intensity before flowing straight towards him.

He tried to get up, but the stream smashed into him before he could get out of the way.

His body turned numb and his vision got blurry, a swirl of colors and feelings.

Suddenly it all came into focus.

He was standing atop a rock, gazing down upon the burning battlefield bellow, a disappointed look on his face. The wind was flowing across his scales.

Another dragon swooped over, bathing the grassland and humans in flames. The mortals had assembled something that might have been supposed to be an army. However, it was defeated in a matter of hours, the sad remains knows scattered to the winds.

Pathetic.

Power was equal to truth, and their power over men was indisputable evidence of their superiority. It would seem like the humans forgot their place in this world.

Well, he thought, a sinister smile spreading on his muzzle. He would be more than happy to remind them of where they belonged.

He jumped from his peak, gracefully gliding through the air before angling his body and turning left towards a fleeing group of soldiers.

As he got within range he opened his maw, letting a shout flow.

"Yol toor shul"

Screams filled the air.

His vision swirled in flames and revealed a new scene.

He was flying above Bromjunaar, the once great city now under siege. He cast his gaze across the buildings, many of the small houses that the mortals insisted on living in were damaged or destroyed by siege weapons. The few mortals that were still loyal to the dragons were fighting on the walls.

Once more he found himself hating them, they had been useful for a moment, helping to keep the rest in check, but the second he looked away they either rebelled or ran like the cowards they were. Alduin had fallen. No one knew how, but he was gone. Alduin had been the strongest of them, his rule had, however much he hated to admit it shattered what little coordination they had. Most of the dovah had gone their own way and then died as a result. He would say stupid young lings but elders had been among those who decided to abandon their old allies and territory. Fools all of them.

There was a bright blue flash that sent the nearby soldier flying and turned the solid oak gate to little more than splinters and crumbled metal. The traitors flowed inside like a wave of insects. He roared his challenge, several other younger dragons following suit before going airborne.

He landed right in front of the gate, crushing a handful of mortals under his claws.

He turned his attention to the stunned creatures in front of him, once more letting flames flow from his maw. Screams filled the air, but those were quickly silenced as well.

Only ash would remain when he was done with them.

He looked up just in time to see a shout impact a dragon, it's body seemed to seize up and fall from the sky, the moment it crashed it was swarmed by the mortals from all sides. Insects they were.

Mirmulnir turned back to the soldiers, once more breathing fire, except this time it was blocked by a translucent blue wall. The wall disappeared as soon as he ended the shout, the mortals seemingly taking advantage and charging.

A dragon got halfway decapitated by spell.

He bit into a mortal, teeth easily penetrating the steel plate and crushing the bones beneath.

Another dragon fell from the sky.

A group of humans got frozen solid by a shout.

The smell of death was thick.

His version swirled and changed again. He was flying, he didn't know where he was or where he was going but he had no choice. Bromjunaar had fallen, Mirmulnir was old, he cared little for other dragons, though he didn't mind the occasional small talk. That however didn't mean he wanted them dead, but the humans had continued their hunts. They had won the war and as if that wasn't enough their apparently deemed it necessary to actively hunt and kill every remaining dragon. Mirmulnir had no allies left, he didn't even have any rivals or enemies left. They had all fallen.

It seemed like a long time ago, but he wasn't really sure, the days all blurred together.

Hunt, sleep retreat to somewhere isolated and repeat once the hunting parties showed up. He'd killed the first few, but that just resulted in even more showing up, more numerous and stronger than him. He never had time to rest, he was forever on the run, tired, hungry and alone.

What he wouldn't do for a little company.

He cursed the mortals, every day he cursed them. He vowed he would kill a thousand for every dragon they had slaughtered.

He would make them scream for mercy in every tongue, make them cry out for their gods before crushing their pitiful little bodies.

One day…

One day he would have his revenge.

Koraaviik slammed back into reality, the strange out of body experience disappearing as quickly as it had arrived. He was on his knees, breathing heavily. His mind was a jumbled mess.

It felt like a damn had broken inside him, a strange warmth flowing through his body.

"What…"

He swallowed, taking a few calming breaths.

"What was that?" He looked up at Midwahgein when she didn't answer for a moment.

Her eyes were wide, a shocked expression on her face.

"I…You...but how?"

* * *

So I'm going to address the big thing first and the one that caused me the most trouble.

Koraaviik being dragonborn, it was the plan from the beginning, it worked perfectly with my long term plans and would in my mind ad an even more interesting component. A dragonborn who's allied with the dragons. However, then i realised that one of the things that made this story unique was that, unlike every other story the main character wasn't just a random dragonborn on adventure. And then I became unsure. So let me know if you...you know like it, I really became unsure with that one.

Next up is Mirmulnir, as it turns out he survived the dragon war and the hunts that followed, he his one of the oldest named dragons in the game. You learn something new everyday.

This is also one of the first fighting scenes i write to I would love to know your thoughts.

Two bodies have I, though both joined in one, the more I stand still the faster I run. What am I?


	9. Chapter 9: The plains of Whiterun

I still live!

I know, a month.

Why? Well real life stuff hit the fan and I didn't get to start writing before, like a week ago. So this might be a bit rushed, and there might be a lot of wacky sentences, but it is here.

Thank you so much to all the people who favorited/followed and left reviews, they really do help to get me in the mood for writing not to mention that they help me improve the story and give me new ideas. ^^

The answer to the riddle is an hourglass.

Now onto the story.

Chapter 9: The plains of Whiterun

* * *

"I…"

"You...how?"

Koraaviik swallowed again, he stood up shakily, learning on Midwahgein for support.

It was like his whole body was humming, every heartbeat so much clearer than before, though the feeling was slowly receding.

He had seen Bromjunaar, he was there during the siege, but he wasn't. He knew he hadn't been there at the time. He was at the temple, fighting off the other rebels.

'But you were' His mind argued back. You flew around, fighting tooth, claw and fire against the invaders.

But he was not a dragon.

But you were his mind repeated stubbornly. This time it was followed by pictures and feelings that were familiar and alien at the same time

And it was true, he remembered it so vividly. The flames flowing from his maw, the wind beneath his wings, his claws shredding the bodies of his enemies. He remembered the smell of burning flesh and the roar of dragons.

But he was not a dragon.

…

Koraaviik put a hand to his head, hoping to make some sense of his scattered and confusing thoughts.

"Look at me"

He turned his head, Midwahgein was staring at him. Their eyes locked and his mind seemed to slow down a bid, his thoughts were still darting around but somehow they felt more collected than before.

"What was his name?"

The question seemed to come out of nowhere. _What was who's name? The dragon? _No wait, that couldn't be it, and even if it was then which one? He remembered so many from the war. No that wasn't him. It wasn't his memories, but how was that possible? It didn't make any sense…

Suddenly the sky cracked, a voice coming from seemingly everywhere at once echoed across the land "DO VAH KIIN" followed by second boom that once again left the world in silence. Koraaviik looked up at the sky, halfway expecting to see someone floating around.

Koraaviik completely lost his train of thought, the few things he had managed to make sense of were once again scattered. What did dovahkiin mean? He knew dovah meant dragon but what about- Midwahgein was staring at him, a strange look in her eyes. Eye contact once again seeming help him get a grip on his scattered mind, something that was only amplified by the determination that suddenly shone in them.

"The dragon, what was his name!" She demanded, well as much as she could without moving.

He just stood there, how was he supposed to know what the dragon was...his mind did another flip and a name popped into his head.

"Mirmulnir...his name was Mirmulnir"

Suddenly it was like it all clicked. The visions, the battle, the many years spent alone and on the run, hateful and lonely.

"That was his, his memories…"

Koraaviik broke the eye contact, feeling himself sagging a little.

"But how?"

"Y...you absorbed his soul"

He- wait, no. How is that possible?

He did feel a bit...different, though he couldn't really put his finger on it. Though some of his exhaustion had disappeared which was lovely, at least now he didn't feel like he would just drop at some point.

A gust of wind hit them one that made Midwahgein freeze. He looked at her questioningly.

"Behind us" she said.

He tensed before reluctantly taking a few steps to the side to look. Just down the road, halfway in cover behind a giant boulder, were a group of soldiers in identical armour to the once lying dead all around the tower. He could count at least 20 armed with everything from spears to bows. Midwahgein turned her long neck around to look as well

He looked back to her, feeling another pang of worry and a slight panic starting to form. Her wings still had scratches, there were still bite marks on her chest and he could feel her tail was bruised from when she had used it to smack Mirmulnir. She was still lying on her side on the scorched grass, she was awake and focused but in no shape to fight, he wasn't even sure if she could walk. Healing the wound on her neck had stopped her from bleeding out, but there was no way either of them was going to take on 20 plus armed soldiers and neither was he.

Koraaviik looked around, desperate to find something, something that could help them get out of the situation. But there was nothing, he knew. He looked back at her, and once again followed her gaze to the group.

"Those two, on the left. The male and female, they were in the temple when we were resurrected" said Midwahgein without taking her eyes of the group

They did stand out from the rest, they wore light robes and seemed unarmed compared to the other ones.

"They followed us all the way here, how?"

"Why don't we go ask them?" She said clearly joking. At Least he hoped so, she was in no shape to move and there was no way he was leaving her, not before and certainly not now.

He did a quick look around, magic was always better than a sword or shield in his opinion, a lot more flexible, but while the soul absorption thing removed the worst of it he was still exhausted. He grabbed a sword from one of the corpses, plain steel with leather handle. He pointed the sword at the soldiers making it clear that they had indeed been discovered.

He knew he wouldn't be able to do much, he could redirect the arrows, at least to a degree, and while he was fairly well trained with a sword he wouldn't risk his life on it. He was fairly sure that the soldiers had more experience and better training than him anyway. Midwahgein, despite being a dragon wasn't really fit for fighting anything at the moment. Perhaps they could scare them off?

His minds till felt a bit scattered but he tried to asses the situation as best as he could.

How long had they been standing there?

No real answer to that one without asking them

Why were they there? Wait stupid question, their tower was attacked and the soldiers killed, it only makes sense for them to respond.

What did they think about dragons? Wait, that one seemed important. They didn't really match any of the 'dragon hunters' from Mirmulnirs memories, they would have attacked, they would have been more well equipped. Ballistae and heavy crossbows for range, spears and mages to fight up close. No Mirmulnir attacked first, but what about these soldiers, would they attack? If they were in the dark about dragons...and that was a big if. If they were in the dark about them it would entirely depend on how much of the battle they saw and how brave or stupid they were. No that didn't really matter, the only thing that mattered was the corpse laying near the ruined tower. However unfortunate it was they might be able to use it to their advantage. But that all depended on what the soldiers were planning on doing.

Perhaps if he tried to...Oh he almost forgot. He couldn't speak or understand the language. He didn't take his eyes off the soldiers when he talked to her "I'm going to need your help with this one" She merely responded with a silent nod.

Koraaviik slowly lowered his sword, but kept a firm hold on it. He would let them make the first move, there wasn't anything else he could do.

The soldiers slowly started moving out from behind the rock the two on the left as well as a dark elf seemed to be the ones in the lead, weapons ready. As they moved their eyes kept darting between Koraaviik, Midwahgein and the corpse of Mirmulnir.

Koraaviik counted twenty three soldiers, besides the dark elf and the two mages. Nine bows, eight spears and five with swords and shields. He finished his inspection with the 'leaders'. The dark elf was holding a sword, seemingly identical to the one he had in his hand. The mages seemed unarmed, not that it mattered, they had their weapons ready and on them at all times.

They were approaching slowly, hesitant, nervous or afraid, maybe all at once. One step at a time, the male one of the three seemed a bit more confident, though his hands were clearly shaking.

The soldiers were whispering among themselves, almost loud enough for him to hear. Not that he bothered to try and pick out the words. He knew her hearing was better than his and she could actually understand it.

Koraaviik looked at Midwahgein, her attention was focused on them, body tense.

"What are they saying?"

She looked at him for barely a moment before her attention once again returned to the encroaching soldiers without answering.

Koraaviik sighed, slightly frustrated.

"Look I'm gonna need you to translate for me or else this is going to be a very one sided conversation"

She merely nodded, still focused on the soldiers. Once again she moved her tail so that it was touching the skin on his leg. Direct contact seemed to be the best way to communicate mentally, though like so many other things they hadn't really had time to test it. Though it worked, and that was all they needed right now.

The group stopped at what might be considered a safe distance. Slightly spread out and clearly on edge, ready to attack or retreat at a moments notice.

She huffed, another pained but toothy smile.

"I think they might be shy" she muttered slowly, loud enough for both to hear, while looking straight at them. Said humans immediately froze both looking at them like a kid being caught with their hands in the cookie jar. The two who apparently had been at the temple seemed a bit less startled. They really hadn't seen a dragon before...

A world without dragons.

He couldn't really imagine that.

The male one was the first to speak.

A string of incomprehensible words, fast and slightly high pitched. The man was afraid, afraid but clearly curious. Interesting. That was however the only thing he could decipher from his words and posture.

After a moment of silence Midwahgeins voice rang through his head "_He said they don't mean us any harm_" She didn't sound convinced. However it was at this moment that koraaviik realised that this might be exactly what they had been looking for. It was what Midwahgein had said they would need.

A human from this time, one they could trust.

Koraaviik wasn't really sure if they could trust these ones, that was impossible to decide at the moment considering how little they knew. But the three 'leaders' were definitely an interesting opportunity, not to mention that they arrived with a bunch of soldiers which must mean they have some form of an authority or at least that they were important enough to be protected by a bunch of soldiers. Either way they must have some degree of influence in the local city.

It seemed almost like a too good to be true opportunity.

Koraaviik didn't take his eyes off them "I think this might be what we've been looking for"

She raised a scaly eyebrow, but quickly seemed to catch up on what he meant.

She turned her attention back to the group.

"You were at the temple, who are you?"

Koraaviik blinked a few times.

_He understood that. But how?_

The two from the temple responded first, followed by the dark elf.

And he understood none of it.

How very strange. When she spoke the language he didn't exactly understand the individual words, however he somehow knew what she meant. He figured it must've been because of the bond somehow translating the meaning of the sentence to him though he had no idea how that would work. Later, he thought.

Focus.

After a little while they finished answering and Koraaviik found himself looking expectantly at Midwahgein for a translation.

"_They claim to be mages, from some college to the north_"

"_And the others are from the local village_"

The ones from the village were the soldiers, and the two others were from some form of college. So they weren't affiliated with each other then?

The soldiers lead by the dark elf seemed to be asking some heated questions to the ones from the college.

Koraaviik looked questioningly at a bemused Midwahgein. "What's going on?"

"_It would seem like our 'friends' from the college neglected to inform the others that it was them who triggered our resurrection_" She said with nothing short of glee in her voice.

Koraaviik looked at the spectacle, no they were definitely not affiliated.

Maybe he could guide the subject back to something more important.

"_Ask if they have some potions, healing or mana, both would do_"

Midwahgein quickly caught up with his thoughts.

"_I'm not taking anything from them_" she said with a half growl, immediately rejecting the idea despite her still numerous wounds.

_Why was she so stubborn?_

"_They are soldiers not assassins!_"

"_And besides" _He continued "_If I understand this correctly, they didn't know dragons existed before now…_" a small twitch, he almost missed it but it wall all the confirmation he needed.

"_They just got attacked by an unknown enemy that we killed in front of them, they have as many questions as we do. They have no reason to kill us, we are more valuable to them alive_" He finished, quite satisfied with his rant. He hated discussing things with her like that, but they couldn't waste this chance because of paranoia, justified or not they needed help. She could always just choose to ignore his opinion if she disagreed or felt like doing something else, she had done so before.

She huffed "_Fine_" before adding "_But if they even as much as considers to betray our trust I'll kill them_"

He held back a relieved sigh. "And I wouldn't stop you" he said, this time aloud.

She turned her head back to their visitors who had been waiting anxiously near the road.

"Do you have mana potions?"

The male of the college group suddenly lid up before grabbing something from his bag and moving towards them.

Midwahgein growled and everything went still. "Slowly."

The soldiers and the dark elf had their weapons half drawn and the female from the college looked like she was about to drag the other one back.

Meanwhile Koraaviik was somewhere between nervous and impressed.

Even when exhausted and wounded she still managed to control everything, but risking the soldiers attacking because she wanted to knock some respect into them was perhaps not the best idea.

The mage took the hand out of his bag, revealing a small blue coloured potion before slowly, one step at a time walking towards them.

When the man got within 15 feet Midwahgein growled, once again forcing him to a stop.

He offered the potion and Koraaviik simply levitated it the rest of the way. Something that seemed to surprise the man, making Koraaviik question whether the guy was actually a mage at all, what was so special about levitating things? Perhaps he was only a novice?

Not that it mattered he thought as he inspected the potion, colour seemed right, if a bit dull, he pulled out the cork. Wasting no time he emptied the small vial, waiting only a moment before he felt the effects. He moved over to Midwahgein again, healing the wounds on her chest. When that was done she helpfully extended her wings wings which he healed as best as he could. He considered healing the numerous scratches as well but he knew he had already burned through most of the potion and continuing would send him right back to where he started. And being unable to defend himself with magic when enemies could be anywhere was not something he felt like trying out.

"I'm afraid that this is the best I can do." He said, taking a step back to give her space.

She slowly pulled her wing back "You've done more than enough"

"Just...please don't scare me like that again"

He heard a voice from behind, turning his head he saw it was the dark elf.

It was clear that from her posture and voice that she was out of her element, but to her credit she seemed to be holding up quite well. Which, when looking around was incredibly fortunate considering how the soldiers seemed ready to fight or flee, the only thing keeping them in check was the dark elf, standing strong, or at least appearing that way.

Midwahgein seemed to consider whatever the dark elf had said before responding.

"Perhaps we could make a deal?"

"We have questions that need answering, and I am sure you have a few as well" She said in a sleek voice, eyes momentarily looking towards the bones of Mirmulnir before returning to the group. It was subtle but powerful way to remind them of the stakes. However there were things Midwahgein seemed to have forgotten.

"_We could use food and shelter as well…?_"

She huffed, as if the very idea was preposterous.

"_We do not need food from some random humans, and the tower will provide all the shelter we will need_"

He had nothing to say to that, and even if he did, she made it quite clear that that was it.

Koraaviik had never witnessed a dragon making a deal were the benefits didn't far outweigh the downsides and this was no exception. The humans seemed to have varied reactions on the deal, the two from the college seemed like they were about to explode with excitement while the dark elf seemed wary and even a bit suspicious, looking back towards the city before eyeing them once again. Lowed ones or strong bonds of loyalty.

Koraaviik looked at Midwahgein who seemed to have reached the same conclusion

"We promise not to hurt anyone, unless they attack first"

The dark elf seemed to think it over, the two mages as well as the soldiers were all looking at her and awaiting whatever decision she would reach. It would seem like she was the one of highest rank, a general perhaps, maybe a lieutenant? It was difficult to guess, she didn't look like either but he didn't exactly feel like he was up to date with current military equipment and it was near impossible to guess when he didn't know the size of the city she was stationed in. He faintly remembered seeing the city when they first crossed the plains but hadn't paid it much mind, simply didn't feel relevant at the time.

The dark elf seemed to reach some sort of a conclusion as she suddenly called over the two from the college as well as a few guards.

Koraaviik could do little more than observe their individual reactions and general tone to guess the way the conversation was going.

Midwahgein suddenly huffed in what sounded like disagreement.

He looked at her voringly, he was really hoping this would go their way.

"_What's wrong?_"

"_She said they looked intelligent intelligent_"

He grinned, though no one could see it because of the mask.

The two from the college along with two guards turned around and started running back towards the city. They were most likely getting someone important to either witness or handle the questioning. The rest of the soldiers turned their attention back to them, the tension was still high, half of them still had a tight grip on their weapons while the others were whispering amongst themselves about some unknown subject. _Probably us_ he thought. There wasn't much to do while they were waiting except observe the other group. The problem was that he had already done that and now he just felt reckless. He ended up standing beside Midwahgein, trying his best to focus on her remaining wounds to see if there was anything to be done while absentmindedly watching the soldiers for movement. Once in a while his eyes jumped to the bones near the tower, but doing so only seemed to make him think of Mirmulnir which opened up a flood of memories that was so easy to get dragged away by. No he had only just gotten his mind back under control, the last thing he needed was thinking about it. He needed a distraction, and tending to his bonded seemed like the perfect one. Though Koraaviik was starting to become aware of the number of eyes on him. Not that he wasn't used to it, that was after all how most people reacted when faced by a dragon priest. It had happened a lot to him, especially after the Bond had been created. Not that it mattered, fear was usefull in mordorate amounts, and as long as they stayed were they were and didn't do anything stupid he cared little for what they felt.

He tried to prepare himself for the questions, he wouldn't be asking them of course. Midwahgein would, but he liked to atleast get into the mindset so he didn't feel completely useless when it began. It was simple really.

_Give them enough but never too much. Keep them interested until we have the answers we need. _And what if they asked about the war? They would have to rely on half truths and distractions in places, though avoiding that subject would probably be best, no reason to poison the well.

Koraaviik turned his head as he caught sight of movement. The group of people who left for city were returning, this time there was someone with them, one wearing dark blue/purple robes who looked like another mage, they seemed to like robes.

He didn't like the idea of even more people, they were vulnerable and outnumbered as it was. But they needed answers, and he was fairly sure they wouldn't get an opportunity like this again.

* * *

If you walk on the living, they don't even mumble.

But walk on the dead, they mutter and grumble. Of what do i speak?


	10. Chapter 10: The fire within

Suprise! I am still alive.

What's it been, nearly two months? Time truly flies.

I've had some issues with writing as one can almost imagine, I've always had a general idea of were i want the story to be but recently I stumbled into the problem of how to get it there. In short, I have a lot of ideas but no clue on how to tie them together. I still haven't found a solution to that but i did nevertheless manage to squeeze out some pages, mostly filler but it's something.

Also been watching some different shows/movies recently which made me consider starting other stories, nothing solid, just a bunch of ideas that doesn't seem to won't to leave my head.

Anyway, enough rambling.

The answer to the riddle is leaves.

Chapter 10: The fire within

* * *

Midwahgein have had better days.

Being brought back to life much later than planned was not too bad, but it certainly complicated things. The current human population seemed ignorant of the dragons' existence which, considering how their last empire had ended, might actually end up working in their favor. A fresh start of sorts. Then they unexpectedly met another dragon, Mirmulnir, mad with grief and consumed by hatred. The battle had been difficult and she had been more outmatched than she liked to admit. He had proved much faster than a dragon of his size should have been, not to mention that he always seemed to know what she was going to do before she did it, which made it difficult to get any hits in. To her luck his anger had made him overreach and commit to attacks that would otherwise have been suicide. He was a battle scarred ancient and she had underestimated him. A mistake that had almost proved lethal. The line of slightly discolored scales on her neck would be a permanent reminder of that.

Koraaviik had saved her. She always knew he was different, stronger than the others. She had felt it deep in her bones when she first stumbled upon him. He risked his life to save her, and while she knew that he only did his duty it still felt special, stupid, but special. She had thought that he had died when Mirmulnir let the shout flow, the mad dragon put so much hatred behind it and while feelings didn't feed a shout with strength per say they could certainly motivate one to put more strength behind it, the fact that his shield could withstand it, if only for a time only served to confirm what she already knew.

Then, when Mirmulnirs head was cracked on the rocks and they both lay sprawled out on the blackened grass, some unknown voice had split the skies with a single word that still rang clear in her head.

Dovahkiin.

It was...well, she didn't really know. The only dragonborn she knew about was Miraak, and she had only heard him mentioned by name a few times and never actually met him in person. If she had to be honest with herself she wasn't really convinced he was one at all. She had heard stories about him absorbing the souls of a few dragons when he tried to take over that island but when he was taken down by another dragon priest it became quite clear that the dragons involved probably weren't that much of a challenge anyway. Stories easily escalate and devolve into absurdity when it's carried from person to person enough times.

She did not know If he named himself dovahkiin or if the title was placed upon him by someone else, either way she had thought it silly.

Dovahkiin meant dragonborn something that in itself didn't make a whole lot of sense. Dragons did not give birth, they just were. And while he may or may not have been able to absorb souls she failed to see how it was relevant at all.

Koraaviik however…

When he had absorbed the soul he had fallen to his knees and become irresponsible. She had in a fit of panic wrapped her tail around his leg and as gently as she could, forced her way down the bond and into his head

She saw glimpses of the memories of Mirmulnir, she felt the scorching heat from the soul reverberating through his body, she felt Mirmulnirs hatred and despair, even if only for a moment before it seemed to seep in and disappear along with the rest. .

But the thing that really shook her foundations was how similar Koraaviik felt to a dragon at that moment. It was difficult to explain since she didn't really have anything to base it on or compare it to. She had never 'felt' another dragon through a bond like the one she shared with Koraaviik, but there was just something...familiar, about him that she had never really noticed before. She knew that he was different. She just never knew how or why. Now, it was like she was starting to gather some of the pieces, she was just unsure of how to place them together and what exactly they meant.

And how would he react? She knew he did not fully understand the word, that much was made clear by the oh so obviously puzzled expression he got when the name was called out. But she knew him, it would not take him long to figure it out, if he didn't just outright ask her. And what then, how would she explain something to him that she herself did not fully understand? The strange voice was just another question to the pile, who called out that he was dovahkiin? How did they know? Did they know who he was? Did they know where they were? Were they friend or foe?

She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, so many questions.

The pain wasn't helping.

_Focus, need to stay focused._

Easier said than done, she could barely walk and they were surrounded by possible enemies who seemed to know more about her Koraaviik than she did. At Least when it came to the whole dragonborn thing.

She was confused, frustrated and tired. But now was not the time for weakness.

Koraaviik had managed to heal the bite marks on her chest with the help of a mana potion from one of the mages, and that's all she needed. She would deal with the humans.

Speaking of humans.

The two from the college were returning with a third person, also a mage if she had to guess, one whose hands were filled with papers and scrolls.

Once they arrived, they nearly collapsed hands on their knees, windblown and out of breath.

The two from the college immediately went over to the dark elf while the newcomer seemed more inclined to take his time.

He looked around and almost seemed to stumble and drop the scrolls when he saw her.

She regarded him curiously. He didn't look like much, but she decided that he must have some importance since they had to keep her waiting in order to get him.

The man just stood there for a moment, eyes wide and mouth open.

His eyes then jumped to the bones of Mirmulnir and back to her and then to Koraaviik and back again. It would have been quite comical if it wasn't for the fact that he was wasting their time.

The dark elf seemed to share her opinion as she called out his name.

"Farengar"

"Hmm? What? Oh yes sorry!"

"Hold these" he said handing her a stack of scrolls and paper which she promptly handed over to one of the guards with a frustrated sneer on her face.

"So-" The newcomer, Farengar started and then stopped as one of the guards interrupted him.

"Is it true, that you are dragonborn?"

He got a death glare from the dark elf and a 'how rude' look from Farengar.

Midwahgein tilted her head, at least know she didn't need to consider how to ask about it without sounding stupid or drawing unnecessary attention to the subject. The question was clearly meant for Koraaviik, unbeknownst to them he didn't understand any of it, and so it would stay until she knew what was going on. But the question revealed something important, there must've been more dragonborns since the war. She refused to believe that Miraak's little failed rebellion would have earned him a place in the history books, if anything he only managed to piss off both sides of the war. No, there must have been others, someone important. But first she needed to know some more about how the whole thing worked.

"What makes you think that?" Come on little soldier, give me all you have.

"I…" The soldier seemed hesitant, like he just realized he was speaking to her instead of Koraaviik, good. He looked at her bonded and then at her, seeming to gather whatever courage he had before answering.

"The Greybeards called out his name, h-he absorbed the dragons soul…" he trailed off. Not as much as she had hoped for but her interest was piqued.

"And who are these Greybeards?"

"I...don't know much about them, besides that they are masters of the voice and live in seclusion in High Hrothgar on the throat of the world."

So there were still humans who knew how to use the Thu'um, but they were few and lived alone on a mountain peak. And judging by the almost mythical reverence in the soldiers voice there were not many who still had the ability.

Midwahgein had to close her eyes and take a deep breath for a moment.

The humans had learned how to use the thu'um, the strongest magic in the world that, in the right claws literally made one able to move mountains and burn entire cities with but a few words. The very magic that allowed them to combat her and her kin on equal footing. They mastered the Thu'um and used it to win the war.

And then they somehow managed to forget the entire thing.

The never ending stupidity of humans never ceased to amaze her.

It was almost like they wanted the dragons to come back and take over the world.

She held back a sigh. They would certainly have to give these graybeard a visit, she needed to know what they knew, and maybe kill them to remove the humans ability to use the thu'um for good. But that was a decision for another time.

They had asked a question and she had gotten no less than three answers while they had none. Now it was her turn.

But where to start?

Aaah yes, they needed to know the date, something simple like that should be manageable for them.

"I am sure that the two mages mentioned that they resurrected us not so long ago."

"We have not yet been able to catch up with the current date…"

The newcomer turned his head to look at the two mages, before rapidly switching between her and them.

"I...you...resurrected? Like you mean literally resurrected from the dead?" He shook his head lightly.

"That's impossible." he said, seemingly unsure if he was asking a question or declaring a statement. She rolled her eyes. She was not here to argue resurrection spells and the less they knew the better.

"Clearly, now answer my question"

He looked at her for while dumbfounded and unsure if she was joking or not. However he decided not to pursue the subject any further. _Perhaps he was smarter than he looked? _Instead he took a breath before finally answering her question.

"It is currently the 7th of Frostfall, Fourth Era, year 201. However, I'm not entirely sure how long you might've been gone for..."

"Give me something"

He turned halfway like he was about to grab and rummage through the pile of scrolls he brought with him but stopped. "I don't have any solid dates on the Merethic Era, very few do. But if I had to make a guess I'd say you've been gone for around...what three and a half, maybe four thousand years?"

Midwahgein was not entirely sure how much that was, she had never really been able to grasp the whole time thing like Koraaviik seemed to. Though judging from how everyone seemed to have their breath hitch in their throat it was a quite significant number.

Midwahgein reluctantly shared the newfound information with Koraaviik.

A Moment of silence

"_...Four thousand years?" _

"_No wonder I can't understand what they are saying" _

She felt a bit sorry for him, while she didn't suffer under the same problems she could clearly see it was bothering him. She was about to consider what she might say to console him when the newcomer interrupted her thoughts by speaking again.

"What happened between you and eh. That one?" Farengar said, halfway pointing to the bones of Mirmulnir.

She huffed, _What do you think happened? We ate deer and shared hunting stories of course!_ Stupid mage.

"His name was Mirmulnir, we heard the sounds of battle and decided to investigate. He attacked and we defended ourselves"

"Should we expect more dragons to attack our city?" The dark elf followed up, seemingly not caring that it wasn't her turn to ask questions. Regardless, it was a difficult one, she could tell the truth and say yes. Alduin is alive and is apparently reviving dragons who mindlessly attack anything they might deem a good dinner or simply to relieve themselves of boredom or old grudges. And she wanted to, if only to watch them shiver in fear and watch the panic in their eyes when they realized she wasn't joking. But then she stopped, If she told them the truth she knew Koraaviik would never let it go as it would probably significantly complicate their pretty much non-existent relationship with the locals...unless it wouldn't. It could make the city dependent on them since they didn't know anything about dragons and how to kill them, essentially giving them a head start and pushing them into a position of power...But Alduin complicated things.

If Alduin decided to go pay them a visit the results would not be questionable. It would be a trial like every other time, Alduin was the strongest, Midwahgein held no illusions that she would fall against him in a battle, had Koraaviik not been there she wouldn't even have been able to defeat Mirmulnir and he was nowhere near Alduin when it came to strength and battle prowess. A battle was out of the question. She did not know how the humans had managed to defeat him nor how he had managed to get back to life even though she was sure he had had plans in place in the unlikely chance that he would lose a battle. Perhaps the humans had kept some sort of record of the battle where he was slain? They were very keen on writing things down so they might be lucky.

Alduin had been the leader for the last time, his rule had ended in a brutal civil war against an opponent they greatly underestimated. Alduin had led them to defeat, once before and Midwahgein highly doubted that he had changed his mind on how to manage and rule a population of humans and dragons without the whole thing burning to the ground…again. Dragons had paid the price for his stupidity once before, the question was how to avoid it happening again.

If he decided to attack the humans there was little they could do besides watching and while she didn't understand humans that well she knew enough to know that such an event would make their long term plans...difficult.

She would need to discuss it with Koraaviik, perhaps he could use that wonderful mind of his to think up some solutions to the problem that was Alduin. Yes, that seemed like the next step, they had gotten enough information for now and needed to think things through. She would just dismiss the humans and give a more definitive answer to whatever questions they had some other time.

She could ask about the ruling power of the land, the infrastructure and populations. The so called college the mages came from and perhaps get a view of how advanced their magic had gotten in those four thousand years the newcomer claimed had passed. But somehow she couldn't bring herself to ask, not because she didn't want to know, but because it somehow didn't feel as relevant as figuring out what to do about Alduin and visiting these so called grey beards to figure out what the whole dragonborn thing was about. The last one seemed more pressing than the first when she thought about it. Unfortunately, she was in no shape to fly to the top of a mountain at the moment, which left the question of Alduin.

She turned her attention back to the humans who were all staring expectantly at her.

_Oh that's right, they're probably expecting an answer._

How did she say yes without making the dragons seem like a bunch of primitives fighting over little strips of land? She really wasn't in the mood for this.

"It is certainly possible, dragons used to rule this land. There's a good chance that they will want it back. However, it should not be impossible to strike a deal with them."

She wasn't about to guarantee anything, she knew too well how easily some dragons were to befall anger, greed and stupid.

None of them seemed to like the answer, each turning to look at the other. Tense whispering between the soldiers and the mages.

"I am sure you have much to talk about, perhaps it is best if we continue this tomorrow?"

Farengar and the dark elf quickly started to protest

"Why can't we-"

"I still have que-"

She silenced them both with a snarl.

Farengar visibly gulped while several of the soldiers retreated a few steps.

He was just about to speak when the dark elf gave him an elbow to the ribs.

"Of course" she said, giving a slight bow with her head.

They quickly started to move, the two mages and Farengar seemed hesitant but she paid them no mind. Once they had passed the rock they had been hiding during the battle Koraaviik spoke up.

"When you spoke. I didn't exactly understand the words...but I understood their meaning if that makes sense?"

She stared at him curiously.

How, very interesting. Midwahgein had not consciously done anything that should've translated her words, not that she minded. But then did that mean it was the bond somehow carrying over the meaning to Koraaviik?

She knew his lack of knowledge about the language was a problem, one they would have to find a solution for sooner rather than later, she had considered to teach him herself, she had never thought anyone a new language and she wasn't actually aware that she knew it before they started talking. And while she didn't really know where to start she was pretty sure she would figure something out.

Finding time for it was the difficult part, they hadn't exactly found anything that could count as a safe space yet, the outcropping on the mountains had been a start but the nearby village was a bit too close for comfort, especially considering how they had no idea as to their allegiances having a possible enemy lurking outside of your nest was never a good idea. They would have to prioritize it, achieving their goals in this place seemed near impossible when he couldn't communicate with anyone but her.

But now that he said he understood the meaning but not the words...that should make things easier.

"I think it is time we started training again, first class is about the native language and it begins now"

* * *

It cannot be felt, cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, ends life kills laughter


	11. Chapter 11: The Ambassador

Tried my luck with a Thalmor chapter. Elenwen might seem be a bit OC but there wasn't a whole lot to go on so I decided to spice things a bit up, Hopefully for the better.

I will go a bit more into 'the Thalmor perspective' in a later chapter, but I've realized that I really like writing from the 'bad' guys perspective.

Lot's of wacky sentences and spelling errors ahead, you've been warned.

Warning There is a light torture scene in this one.

Answer to the riddle is Darkness.

Chapter 11: The Ambassador

* * *

Elenwen sat cross-legged on an upholstered wooden chair with soft dark blue padding and intricate carvings of waves and birds along the armrests and back.

The wall featured arching columns of obsidian coloured stone that reached all the way to the curved roof with large white-grey painted bricks in between. Unfortunately the building was old and the paint had fallen off in places, small flakes of white leaving cold grey stone behind. The few paintings present on the walls looked more like cheap copies than original artwork. It was a sorry sight, even the architecture was primitive. It could have been better she knew, any building from the Summerset isles would've been a joy for the eyes compared to this bleak and god forsaken country. But they had not deemed it necessary to provide the funds for anything more than a bare minimum when it came to the embassy, Skyrim had simply not been worth it at the time, but things had changed, some for the better some for the worse. The civil war was convenient in a lot of ways, it gave them the opportunity to affect the next ruler of the land while at the same time draining valuable resources from the empire in the war effort. The downside was that the whole place was even more of a mess than before. The weather was terrible, the architecture was boring and the people were dimwitted Talos worshippers. But, she told herself, the key to success was to find a stable footing in all the chaos and work with the mess that she had been put in charge of. No easy task.

The candle flickered, casting shadows across her dark grey robes. She looked down as she opened another envelope with a quick swipe of her letter opener, she couldn't keep the bored expression from her face. It was from some minor noble family Solitude, the masons. No noteworthy wealth or strong connections. Despite that they were always looking to improve relations even though they were mostly useless. She didn't really want to read and respond to the letters but it was not often they met a noble house, even if only a small one that was willing to so openly work with them. She put the cut envelope on the small table beside her and turned to look at the letter.

Said letter was suddenly pulled from her hand by a little figure who quickly darted away as Elenwen tried to grab it. When she saw who it was the frustration and anger was replaced with mild annoyance and playfulness.

It was her daughter Valerie, who had for one reason or another decided that she had been working long enough.

Elenwen did her best to put on a stern and disappointed expression, one she liked to think she had mastered a long time ago with the countless fools she had to endure the presence off in the court.

It had the effect she had been hoping for, her daughter's playful face turned into one of doubt and worry.

Now was the time to strike

"How many times have I told you…"

"This calls for tickling!"

She jumped from her seat, Valerie gave a girly scream as she ran through the room arms flailing wildly above her head. Elenwen heard another pair of feet, probably her other child Brego, she wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing had been his idea. He had a talent for talking already and he was only 12 years old, two years older than his sister who was the very essence of an innocent little girl. Completely ignorant of the political drama and the brutality of the world lurking just outside the gates of the embassy. Elenwen rounded a table only a few steps behind Valerie, whose little feet were running as fast as they could. They passed a doorway into the living room, Valerie ran past another table and moved to run around a couch, perfect. Elenwen moved forward and grabbed Valerie around her waist, lifted her up, swung her around and dropped her on the couch. Before tickling her just about everywhere. Valerie laughed and kicked, trying and failing to wrestle herself from Elenwen's grip.

"Hahaha- I, haha- can't breathe, hahaha-" Elenwen continued for a few more seconds before giving up her relentless tickling,

"I give up, I give up!" said Valerie, breathless.

She spotted Bregos head poking around the corner as if to see if it was safe to come out yet. She was just about to walk over to him when the door opened, revealing an elf in full armor. He looked around the scene with a slight smile on his face, that quickly turned serious when he turned to address Elenwen.

He quickly cleared his throat before speaking "He's ready to talk" was all he said.

Of all the times the fool could have decided to break he chose now? She hid a sigh.

It was the prisoner, Aldor. They had been fairly lucky, one of their informants had come to them with some interesting information regarding the location of one of the last blade members, they hadn't actually known of his existence before the tip but the source had been reliable in the past and so she decided that it couldn't hurt to try. They knew where he and his family lived so lying would be detrimental, she made sure he knew of the consequences of a false tip before she sent word for Rulindil to start the operation. It took them some time to find the blade member, he was hiding among the locals in a small town called Rorikstead, seemingly just another peasant in the crowd.

But they had found him.

And so they struck during the dark hours of the night and whisked him away. In and out before anyone knew what was going on. When they made their subsequent examination of the house they had found several books and notes that confirmed what the informant had said as well as a small improvised shrine to talos which gave them a convenient excuse to be searching the house. Not that they needed one, they had the law on their side if any local complications were to arise, not to mention that the imperials wouldn't want to risk hurting their already fragile political standing over a small arrest of some insignificant 'peasant' in a dead end town like Rorikstead.

Elenwen turned her attention back to Valerie.

"Do you have to go now?" Said Valerie with big doe-like eyes.

Elenwen smiled as she ran a hand through her daughter's long smooth hair.

"I am afraid so dear, Why don't you go play with you brother while I'm gone?"

Valerie reluctantly nodded.

"It won't be long, I promise" She gave her a farewell kiss on her forehead before getting up and following the soldier out the door.

She silently followed him down a flight of stairs and then another until they reached the basement where he unlocked the door to the interrogation chambers. While some would call it barbaric or inhuman it was impossible to deny the effectiveness of such methods. And while many of the humans were hesitant to seek use of such methods she cared little for what they deemed 'humane'. She cared for effectiveness and results. She had been tasked with handling the situation in Skyrim and handle it she would.

She rightened herself a bit and held her head high as she walked down the wooden stairs. The smell was...less than pleasant in the dungeon, luckily she rarely had to get down there, unless of course an important prisoner was ready to talk. She much preferred to be present for the final interrogations of captured prisoners. That way she was sure to be present when they spilled all their little secrets without having to spend her precious time motivating them to speak.

As she got closer to the prison cell she got a good view of the man.

He was fairly young, much younger than she would have guessed. They must be recruiting, she concluded before a question popped into her head. How do you recruit people for a top secret organisation of dragon killers in a world without dragons while remaining undetected by everyone? A mystery to be sure, but one she could ponder some other time. Other than that he was thin, had short blond hair, was malnourished and covered in bruises and cuts.

Looking at him she almost felt sorry for him, but then she reminded herself that he was a blade member and a Talos worshipper, he deserved everything he got and more. She steeled herself and put on an emotionless mask.

"I hear you have something to say?"

The man was on his knees, both arms chained to the wall.

"I...The one i talked to…" He paused and swallowed audibly before pausing.

"Yes?"

"Her name is Delphine, a nord-" His talk was broken by violent coughing that resulted in a few drops of blood flying from his mouth. She waited for him to finish, apparently he had taken quite a beating before talking, he must be stronger than he looked.

"But i don't know where she is" He finished in a raspy voice

"You work for her but you don't know where she is?" She said with a hint of skepticism. But in reality she believed him, the blades were very few and quite paranoid. It made sense that not knowing each other's location would be just another safety precaution in case one were to be caught.

Their war with the blades had been a long and bloody one. One that started before Elenwen was born. It was a group of elite warriors with a spy network as extensive as the Dominion, something that in itself made them a threat to their operations. They had, all the way back to the first era took it upon themselves to protect the Cyridillian emperors and when that bloodline ended they decided to take up the mantle of dragon hunters, a job they performed so well that they at some point ran out of dragons to kill.

The real issue was that prior to the purge in the great war they had made the Thalmor's lives a living hell. The elves basically had to declare a crusade against them to have any real effect of wiping them out. Their small group guerrilla tactics proved to be remarkably effective when they had infiltrated every part of the government and operated above the law. The Thalmor leadership was under a constant and imminent fear of being assassinated out of nowhere, because the Blades had the resources to make something like that happen, given enough time. But then came the fourth era.

4E year 171 to be precise.

The empire was faced with an ultimatum consisting of the following.

A large tribute of gold would be paid to the Aldmeri Dominion, the Empire would give a large portion of southern Hammerfell to the Dominion, the worship of Talos would be banned from the empire, and the Blades would be forced to disband. This was the original demand of the Thalmor prior to the Great War, which was of cause rejected by Titus Mede II. When he rejected the ultimatum they flushed out every known blade member, executed them and presented their heads to Titus Mede II, an effective way to both remove one of your opponents strongest cards and declaring war on them in one single action. The war from there went as well as one would expect, 4 years after it had begun the empire was battered and broken and signed the treaty without any further fuss. The prisoner speaking pulled her back to the present.

"We only met a few times, always in remote locations, she made sure i didn't even know what part of the road she arrived from"

"And yet you decided to follow her blindly" She said, poking him while watching carefully for a reaction.

"I follow them because it's the right thing to do!" She smiled, it was almost too easy sometimes.

"Oh yes, the Thalmor are evil and Tallos is good, we've all heard the story." She said dismissively "Why don't we talk about Esben instead?"

The man somehow got even more pale than he was before.

"I...I" He stammered, clearly having been caught off guard.

"What, didn't expect us to know who he was? Oh you poor fool" She said, giving him no time to respond before continuing.

"Tell me Aldor, does it pain you to know how lonely you are?" She needed to push him while he was off balance.

"...what?" He said in a small voice.

Elenwen lifted one of her hands up, looking over her nails before citing the facts.

"No one is coming to free you, they recruited you and then, the moment problems started to arise they left you for dead instead of fighting for you. You've been her for three weeks you must've figured that out by now"

He looked at the ground, silent aside from his laboured breathing. Poor guy had problems facing reality it seemed, young and stupid. Like the rest of the human race.

"There's someone...a member of the thieves guild...But I don't know his name!"

"Give us something" said the torturer flatly beside her. Aldor remained silent. Breathing heavily while staring at the ground like it was suddenly the most interesting thing in the world. She signalled for the torturer and handed him a sleek dark ebony dagger from her robes, making sure that Aldor saw it. The torturer gave himself good time to inspect the blade, feeling the edge before leveling a sinister smile at Aldor who was suddenly Wide eyed and panicked.

"So…" the torturer said with a mock thinking expression as he sat down in front of the prisoner "Where should we start? An eye or some fingers perhaps?"

"Don't you worry, what we don't get to do today we'll do tomorrow, or the day after that, we have all the time the world"

Elenwen marely stood with a side to the cell, pretending not to care in the slightest.

The torturer let the blade glide harmlessly over the bare chest of the prisoner.

His breath was quickening, his mind was probably going over horrible scenario after horrible scenario of what was going to happen. Hopefully she thought, after all nothing she could do would ever compare to the horrors of the human imagination.

The tortuere glided the blade up the man's throat and across his forehead before resting it beside his left eye.

"OKAY OKAY I'll tell you, please just stop!".

"I only know he's called Etienne and- and he was supposed to help Esben find a hiding spot somewhere I swear thatisaliIknow!" He said, now openly sobbing. The last few words were rushed out in a mess but she got the important parts.

The torturer smiled, handing the knife back to Elenwen.

"Your cooperation is much appreciated" He said while doing a mock bow before leaving Aldor in his cell. She walked over the another mage sitting by a tabe near the cell. His job was to write down any relevant information released by the captives. She put out her hand, a silent request. He nodded handing her the pages which she thoroughly read, this was too big a discovery for simple mistakes to happen. They may just have gotten the position of one of the blade's last archivists, something that played in well with the recent return of dragons as it was the archivist's job of keeping track of such things...if she had understood things correctly.

She handed the paper back to him "I want a copy in my office within the hour"

He made a slight bow before unfurling a clean piece of paper and starting to write off.

She only just started for the stairs when the door to the room was opened. In walked a tall figure, he wore the traditional robes required by one of his position. But his statue and attitude combined with a hawkish nose and piercing stare gave him a formidable presence. Sharp features and green eyes. A Thalmor inquisitor by the name of Rulindil, he was one of the older ones in the embassy, he had fought his way up the ranks, chosen for his skills both political and magical, he had a strength in him that many of the younger ones so sorely lacked. And she liked his determination.

But why was he here?

He walked down the stairs with confident steps, giving a slight bow before speaking.

"I've received news from Ancano"

Elenwen looked at him, a bit bemused.

"Don't you have people to deliver messages for you?"

His lips twitched into a small smile that disappeared as soon as it came.

"Oh I do, but this one is of a more...sensitive matter"

"You have my attention"

"You remember how Ancano mentioned the mages were planning an upcoming expedition in his previous report, yes?"

She merely nodded.

"Well, the expedition returned before time, windblown and out of breath before going straight to the Arch mage's quarters. Ancano managed to override his privacy spells and listen in on part of the conversation."

Rulindil handed her a letter from a pocket inside his robes. Clearly he wanted her to read Ancanos on words herself. She let her eyes travel down the paper before quickly folding the letter.

"Let's continue this at my office," She said, walking out. She would need her own collection of notes on the dragons to make a full assessment of the letter. They had painfully little she knew. But this was too much of a coincidence to not be related to the recent attack on Helgen. Which in itself was riddled with questions and coincidences. The dragon had appeared out of nowhere and interrupted Ulfric's execution in Helgen which, convenient as it was, must mean that whoever is behind the dragons also has some interest in the civil war continuing. Why else attack at that exact moment, right before his execution? And why Helgen of all places? There were more strategic targets that would exercise much less resistance than Helgen, supply caravans and cities that were reasonably unarmed but important centers for trade.

Ulfric's death would have dramatically increased the chance of an Imperial victory and thus harmed their overall position in Skyrim. A Stormcloak victory was also to be avoided, however, the best case scenario was the empire pouring money into an endless civil war. She was there during the dragon attack in Helgen, she had tried arguing with general talus who had proved painfully uncooperative, she had demanded that the prisoners be surrendered to her immediately, citing the White-Gold Concordat as reason should have been enough for the withered old general but no. Imperial might and personal justice was apparently deemed to be more important than the treaty. She had furiously vowed that the Emperor would hear of it, but when Udlfrick wasn't actually killed there wasn't much point in making a big fuss about it. He had gone against the treaty but the questions regarding the sudden presence of dragons was much more pressing. Perhaps they would deal with him later, for now a few lines were added to his dossier describing his lack of cooperation and suggestions about getting him replaced with more moldable alternatives, perhaps someone younger and more inexperienced.

But now, out of the blue came a letter from Ancano of all people describing how a group of mages from Winterhold encountered a dragon and a dragon priest only to have them escape to who knows where. Their current information on the dragons was mostly assumptions based on a small number of documented events like the one at Helgen and second or third hand accounts from people who may or may not have actually seen something. But this… this might have been their first actual lead to figure out who was behind the dragons.

"Rulindil, I want you to activate agents in every major city, make them report back any unusual activity. We'll need to know more about what's going on in that damned college as well"

Rulindil was silent for a while.

"Apologies for my forwardness ambassador, but are you sure we can trust Ancano with this assignment?"

She was about to retort and put him in his place for assuming he knew better than her...but then she realised that he was right Ancano was a power hungry fool, a bit too full of himself to see all the errors in his behavior, it was the reason he had been sent to the college of Winterhold instead of other more important political assignments. Assignments that require a certain amount of patience and finesse that he simply didn't possess. Replacing him now was out of the question, he might not have been good with politics but he certainly had his uses spying on people as he had proven time and time again. But Rulindil was right.

"No, no we cannot" she calmly said before continuing "We should dispatch a small squad to Winterhold, to keep an eye on him and assist wherever necessary, make them report back separately without his knowledge" That should ensure that there would be no information left out.

"And what of the mages who made the discovery? Should we bring them in for questioning?"

A good question, she couldn't see why not. One could only get so far on what Ancano might or might not have heard, he claimed to have found a way around the arch mage's privacy spells quickly but she suspected that he might have missed the first few minutes of the conversation. The arch mage was no fool, he was an elf like them, several hundred years old and plenty of experience in the field of magic. He may have lacked the resources and extensive training that they had but she was not about to underestimate him because of that.

"If the opportunity arises I think we should take it"

"But until then we should listen and observe"

She turned around to stare out the window at the snow storm raging outside When A thought suddenly struck her.

"What do you know about dragons?"

"Not much I'm afraid, my studies of the Merethic era are limited, but I'm sure I could find an expert, or make a request."

She merely nodded deep in thought. Her forces were limited but well trained, her resources were close to endless, if her request for more troops and weapons were deemed a 'valuable investment' by the hireups that was. She had been able to keep things in check for the most part, without issues. The Helgen incident being the only bump in the road. What really bothered her was how little she knew about the current situation. Dragons, not one, but two, and a priest. Out of nowhere, they didn't even continue the attacks, burned down Helgen and then disappeared without a trace. The worst part was that there was little she could do because she lacked the knowledge to take any sort of calculated decisions. She narrowed her eyes. While she had indeed been looking for a challenge to get her mind of the tedious civil war she had not expected it to be the giant fire breathing scaly kind of challenge.

No matter.

She would deal with it in one way or another. But first she needed information. She turned around to address Rulindil once again.

"We are going to need to act quickly, I will not be left behind. Whatever is brewing out there I want to know."

"Find me an expert, arrest them if you have to, I'll see to it that the archivist is taken in for questioning. We should have enough information to dig him out of whatever hole he has crawled into."

"Now, if that was all you will have to excuse me, I have letters to send, request to make and an arrest to take care of."

"Of course" he said, bowing slightly before leaving her quarters, closing the door behind him.

Hopefully the archivist would have some answers, if not they would have to rely on whatever experts they could acquire and perhaps some mages, first hand accounts would help a great deal, but they would have to be carefull. Unknown waters lied before them, and she would make sure they would be ready to handle whatever whent their way.

* * *

Pretty please leave a review! ^^

Each morning I appear to lie at your feet, All day I will follow, no matter how fast you run.

Yet I nearly perish in the midday sun. What am I?


End file.
